March 30, 2006
Advice For Political Wagering
Whenever a public figure insists he is
not going to resign,
take the over.
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1
Oh that's just California!
Posted by: Scof at March 30, 2006 02:34 PM (SZtZg)
2
It's kind of like the G.M. giving the baseball manager a "vote of confidence." The manager, invariably, is fired within the week.
Posted by: gcotharn at March 30, 2006 09:15 PM (wg3L2)
3
It was a deal between friends; Rob is trying to put a good face on his mistakes, but they are going to investigate and audit him nevertheless.
He really is a meathead.
Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.
Posted by: shelly at March 31, 2006 06:43 AM (BJYNn)
4
Notice who Rob's spokesman was? Mark Fabiani, the self congratulatory "Master of Disaster".(Check him out)
When Mark is around, you can be sure that someone is deep double doo-doo.
Posted by: shelly at April 01, 2006 02:35 AM (BJYNn)
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March 28, 2006
Go Fish

BUSH FAILS TO NAME LIBERAL TO REPLACE CARD
In yet another striking display of tone-deafness, President Bush ignored critics of his administration by *gasp* failing to name a liberal as his new chief of staff.
Developing . . .
Update: A despondent David Gergen was seen crying in his beer at a Georgetown pub, muttering something about "number six."
Developing . . .
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1
I think I speak for many liberals when I say we hope and will be as pleased as we have any right to be, if he will simply not continue choosing criminals and unqualified cronies for high office and advisory positions.
Posted by: Strawman at March 28, 2006 02:21 PM (0ZdtC)
2
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito have criminal records?
Wow! I would have thought for sure that would have came out in those over the top and excessive confirmation hearings.
Or are you contending that they are unqualified (despite their ridiculously extensive legal resumes and accolades)?
Posted by: Robbie at March 28, 2006 02:33 PM (53jDZ)
3
Josh Bolton is a stand up guy with great experience and will do excellent job. He's been waiting for it for a while.
He was Deputy to Card for several years, after he came to Washington with the Governor.
The Ambassador is his brother, by the way.
Interestingly enough, they are both Jewish, a fact that is low keyed by the press, but not lost on the Muslims.
I have never met him, but my niece lived with him in D.C. for a couple of years while he was Deputy COS and says he is totally dedicated, so much so that she returned to LA to seek her fortune without him. But she still respects him and thinks he is really a competant person.
Typical of Bush, he goes home with the guy what brought him.
Works for me.
Posted by: shelly at March 28, 2006 08:03 PM (BJYNn)
4
Straw,
To whom are you referring? The charged but not convicted Scooter Libby? That would be in contrast to the previous occupant of the White House. We can start with Cisneros, and end with the impeached but not convicted ex-Pres himself. Yes, that's a winner...
Ted Kennedy's killed more people than Bush's entire cabinet.
Posted by: MarkD at March 29, 2006 06:18 PM (X9njN)
5
Hey MArkD,
I don't think so or is one MJK worth 100,000 Iraqi's?
But for the erecord there is the procurement fellow who I think has pled guilty to some sort of fraud, the shop lifter, Scooter, and of course W who is just an unimpeached (rep. congress and all that) lying sack of shit who as opposed to Clinton really has committed really high crimes nd war crimes and never gets blown.
Posted by: strawman at March 30, 2006 08:07 AM (0ZdtC)
6
Straw,
You still throwing out that inaccurate "100,000" figure? You might remember that the number was easily discredited due to incredibly bad methodology.(I know you don't like to get too bogged down in that academic/intellectual stuff.) Here's the bottom line: IT'S NOT TRUE. YOU CAN KEEP SAYING IT, BUT IT WILL CONTINUE TO BE A LIE. C'mon, don't be the commonplace Lefty and just make stuff up. Reminds me of listening to the average drugged out, jobless liberal/Democrat in the local coffee shop spewing one conspiracy after another. There is nothing more amusing or pathetic than an ill informed moral relativist.
Posted by: Blu at March 30, 2006 08:51 AM (j8oa6)
7
bLU,
The reaason i know it to be in the neighborhood of 100000 is that the chimp has admitted to 30,000 and since he lies about 60% of the time about everything, by simple extrapolation we can arrive at a statistically reliable figure for the true carnage.
Posted by: strawman at March 30, 2006 02:13 PM (0ZdtC)
8
can't lie, straw. that made me laugh. gotta give your opponent his due....
Posted by: Blu at March 30, 2006 02:49 PM (j8oa6)
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March 27, 2006
Guillermo Fariñas
Please find out about Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas and why he's on a hunger strike for what you and I take for granted. Start at
The Cotillion and
Fausta's Blog.
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March 24, 2006
Bad Move
I loved the book
Reagan's War, by Peter Schweizer. It tells the story of Reagan's lifelong commitment to anti-communism. The most striking thing about Reagan's foreign policy was the breadth of his offensive against the Eastern Bloc. It wasn't just the overt moves: the arms race, SDI, the summits. He put a lot of resources into more subtle efforts to encourage democracy, most notably support for Poland's Solidarity movement. He also revitalized the Voice of America, which had lost sight of its original purpose as a propaganda tool.
No serious person doubts that Reagan's multi-pronged offensive worked. We should be using the same combination of threats, negotiation and propaganda against Iran. But Congress doesn't see it that way, as reported by ThreatsWatch:
From the House Committee on Appropriations comes word of the failure to fully fund the $75M requested by the administration to assist in broadcast/ telecast/ satellite communication efforts into the people of Iran."Promotion of Democracy in Iran - The committee did not fund the $75 million requested by the Administration for the promotion of democracy in Iran because it was poorly justified. Instead, $56 million was provided through proven, existing programs that will have an immediate, positive impact on the fostering of democratic ideals in Iran."
. . .
The $75M was not enough and, as it was, decades late in the game. To see Congress slash the belated efforts by nearly one-third out of the gate, in light of the current urgency, borders on disconcerting.Sometimes I suspect that there are folks in Congress who are not just clueless, but actively working to harm the people who elected them.
The Iranian problem is a very tough one, and we're in a situation which requires a creative solution. Of all the options available to us, encouraging regime change from within Iran is the least unattractive, in my opinion. Thus, I don't think now is the time to be skimping on resources devoted to that end.
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Congress is a whorehouse, and each gal is trying to have a big night. Real programs are secondary to the self-interest of 90% of the people on the hill.
The analogous relationship between the cold war, and the war on terror is remarkable. Dubyah is consciously being Reagan.
Posted by: Casca at March 24, 2006 09:33 AM (y9m6I)
2
I think that Bush has tried to use Reagan as a model but has not been as effective in many areas. He simply doesn't bring the same set of political tools to the game. Annika's post illustrates an example: the propoganda war. It should be noted, however, that the admin's attempts to utilize propoganda in Iraq have been met with very harsh criticism from the MSM and the political Left (in one of the most disgusting and pathetically obvious displays of hypocrisy.) I am not old enough to remember whether the MSM attacked Voice of America. Even if they did, I doubt it was done with the same gusto. We are dealing now with a MSM that actively works against US interests and in many ways lends aid and comfort to terroists and world terroism by purposely reporting half-truths and refusing to acknowledge that there are good guys and bad guys in the War on Terror.
Posted by: Blu at March 24, 2006 10:13 AM (j8oa6)
3
When you are approving propaganda type activity, you don't want to be too specific about the details. It's ironic that
this is where the House draws the line on spending. And depressing.
Posted by: gcotharn at March 24, 2006 11:00 AM (3Sbj7)
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Annie -
I'm a believer Congress fails to live up to its Section I, Article 8 responsibilities frequently; however, did you read what the Administration is actually proposing to do with the 75M?
The State Department would use $50 million of the supplemental funds, if they are approved by Congress, to establish around-the-clock satellite television and radio broadcasts into Iran. An additional $15 million would go to support the development of civic organizations within Iran. Iranian students and professionals who wish to visit the United States would benefit from an additional $5 million in funding for exchange programs. Finally, the department would devote an additional $5 million to public diplomacy efforts aimed at Iran, including its Persian language Web site.
The State Department official indicated that the United States is not planning to work with existing nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Iran because, as she said, they all have been infiltrated by government agents.
Yes, I'm sure they'll point to how effective other programs have been in latin america..or how easy to jam those broadcasts are. The same statement/briefing on Sec Rice's proposal included the following, "the United States already has programs in place supporting Iranian labor unions, dissidents and human rights activists. The official said civil society organization is the key to effecting positive change in Iran."
It's an election year so Congress is pretty fast and loose with taxpayer money, especially in the area of "national security"; however, you have to at least make an *effort* to show some coherency in linking ends and ways before asking for resources...
And, are the ways and means to win a war against a secular, state-centric political ideology analogous to defeating a tribal/ethnic/non-state-centric religious one?
Posted by: Col Steve at March 24, 2006 02:57 PM (pj2h7)
5
I had a post along the same lines today, wondering why so many congresscritters are so worried that we are going to be in Iraq forever and not wanting to spend money to see that it's a success.
Jackasses.
I think we should start a campaign to have every incumbent defeated this year, be it in the primary or in the general. Time for some grown ups in Congress.
Posted by: KG at March 24, 2006 07:22 PM (SZsz5)
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As someone who is old enough to remember the start of the Solidarity movement in Poland I always found it funny that the position of this country was unqualified support. (Actually not funny since I knew that we would have supported genocide if it would have cause the Soviets harm) The US would have the world believe that it was a champion of progressive perhaps revolutionary movements when in fact should similar freedom loving, injustice hating, movements ( think labor unions, civil rights, anti-fascist, pro-choice, gay and lesbian rights) have fomented and gained support within our borders they would be, and in fact have been covertly and overtly crushed. True, many of these movements have prevailed, but only over time because they had the courage and grass roots support to fight the government and the other great entrenched power: Corporate Interest. But much blood was shed along the way.
A labor historian, D. Walkowitz, who was in Poland during that time, when I asked him what was going on over there, likened the Solidarity movement to SDS in conjunction with the Autoworkers, taking over Ford Rouge and maybe some other GM and Chrysler plants and making demands on the White house to increase wages and other work rules.
I wonder how many hours it would have taken for Ronnie to have called out the guard in the name of protecting "National interests" to storm the plant. Hundreds dead, hundreds injured but democracy and the rule of law prevailing.
Now consider RonnieÂ’s outrage had the Polish government done the same?
Now to quote my comrade Blu.....
"In one of the most disgusting and pathetically obvious displays of hypocrisy"
Unfortunately, pathetic, obvious displays of hypocrisy are and have always been the stock and trade of America, and our current president and his criminal cronies have raised the bar to an astounding height. This hypocrisy, which is transparent to the rest of the world, is the reason wherever Americans travel they are met with snickers and pity for the current plague in the Whitehouse. It is the reason also that a propaganda war against the Middle East is futile. In the 50's when access to media and free flowing news was so constricted it was possible that a needed service was provided by Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America. It was also a more innocent time and America had a much less tarnished image. Everybody in the world today, except of course in China, has generally free access to many sources of news so I doubt there is really much value in spending 50 or 75 million to try and convince the secularist of Iran that America is their friend and will lend support should they need it. They know what happened to the Iraqi's who listened to Bush 1.
Casca, as Gore Vidal said, congressmen are just out of work lawyers, fattening their resumes waiting for a better job offer.
Posted by: strawman at March 25, 2006 07:23 AM (0ZdtC)
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Still crazy after all these years.
Posted by: Casca at March 25, 2006 10:22 PM (2gORp)
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"He also revitalized the Voice of America, which had lost sight of its original purpose as a propaganda tool."
Once an organizatiog is exposed as a propaganda tool, it loses the trust of the greater portion of the population it intends to influence.
Telling the truth should not be looked upon as a weak, girlie-mon approach, but as a justifiable means to inform. Propaganda is merely a means to distort. That's why the "Office of Strategic [Dis]Information" was destined for the dustbin from the outset.
Posted by: Will at March 27, 2006 11:10 AM (GzvlQ)
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March 16, 2006
Airborne Assault
Woke up to
this news today:
U.S. forces, joined by Iraqi troops, on Thursday launched the largest airborne assault since the U.S.-led invasion, targeting insurgent strongholds north of the capital, the military said.
The military said the operation was aimed at clearing 'a suspected insurgent operating area' northeast of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, and was expected to continue over several days.
'More than 1,500 Iraqi and Coalition troops, over 200 tactical vehicles, and more than 50 aircraft participated in the operation,' the military statement said of the attack designed to 'clear a suspected insurgent operating area northeast of Samarra,' 60 miles north of Baghdad.
The province is a major part of the so-called Sunni triangle where insurgents have been active since shortly after the U.S.-led invasion three years ago.
Saddam Hussein was captured in the province, not far from its capital and his hometown, Tikrit.
Waqas al-Juwanya, a spokesman for
Iraq's joint coordination center in nearby Dowr, said 'unknown gunmen exist in this area, killing and kidnapping policemen, soldiers and civilians.'
Near the end of the first day of the operation, the military said, 'a number of enemy weapons caches have been captured, containing artillery shells, explosives, IED-making materials, and military uniforms.'
Noticeably absent from the story was any mention of "civilian deaths" or any quotes from the "insurgents" point of view. That may come later, but for now I'm proud of the AP writer.
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You've got a point. This is being carried out with mostly Iraqi troops in the lead. I halfway expect later reports to claim Iraqi troops unfairly killed Iraqi civilians, and to take the tone that it is unfair for Iraqi troops to fight the insurgents/terrorists. After all, what right have Iraqi troops to interfere in the local matters of Samarra? That is an issue for Samarrans to handle. Iraqi troops are interfering in the internal matters of Samarra, and killing innocent civilians in the process. Reprehensible.
Posted by: gcotharn at March 16, 2006 03:15 PM (3Sbj7)
2
I'm sure when planning this they also took into account that Iran was watching very closely.
Posted by: Stephen Macklin at March 16, 2006 06:44 PM (DdRjH)
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Happy St. Pat's! Interesting: with the Irish banner, you've got a rainbow and a new, fancy font. Thanks to those changes, I briefly thought I'd stumbled upon a very happy blog called Cannabis Journal.
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin Kim at March 16, 2006 06:54 PM (TDwc6)
4
Haha, Kevin. I usually post that kind of banner on April 20th.
Posted by: annika at March 16, 2006 08:10 PM (fxTDF)
5
I had to look up the 420 reference. I now consider myself edumacated.
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin Kim at March 18, 2006 12:20 AM (1PcL3)
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March 14, 2006
"Civil War" Semantics
What exactly is "civil war" and is Iraq really
edging closer to it?Iraqi authorities discovered at least 87 corpses — men shot to death execution-style — as Iraq edged closer to open civil warfare. Twenty-nine of the bodies, dressed only in underwear, were dug out of a single grave Tuesday in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.
. . .
Police began unearthing bodies early Monday, although the discoveries were not immediately reported. The gruesome finds continued throughout the day Tuesday, police said, marking the second wave of sectarian retribution killings since bombers destroyed an important Shiite shrine last month.
In the mayhem after the golden dome atop the Askariya shrine in Samarra was destroyed on Feb. 22, more than 500 people have been killed, many of them Sunni Muslims and their clerics. Dozens of mosques were damaged or destroyed.
Underlining the unease in the capital, Interior Ministry officials announced another driving ban, from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 4 p.m. Thursday to protect against car and suicide bombs while the Iraqi parliament meets for the first session since the Dec. 15 election.
Okay. Sounds like there's been some violence. Nothing new there. The government is taking steps to limit further violence. Also to be expected. But where is the support for the assertion that this recent violence is something new ― something different than the insurgency that has been going on since 2003?
People are throwing the term "civil war" around a lot lately, and I think it's interesting that nobody defines what that means. So I looked to that unassailable source, the Wikipedia, which has this to say:
A civil war is a war in which parties within the same country or empire struggle for national control of state power. As in any war, the conflict may be over other matters such as religion, ethnicity, or distribution of wealth. Some civil wars are also categorized as revolutions when major societal restructuring is a possible outcome of the conflict. An insurgency, whether successful or not, is likely to be classified as a civil war by some historians if, and only if, organized armies fight conventional battles. Other historians state the criteria for a civil war is that there must be prolonged violence between organized factions or defined regions of a country (conventionally fought or not). In simple terms, a Civil War is a war in which a country fights another part of itself. [links omitted]
More enlightenment can be found in the classic text,
The American Constitution, Its Origins And Development, which describes the semantic issue in the context of the American Civil War:
An insurrection is legally construed to be an organized and armed uprising for public political purposes; it may seek to overthrow the government, or it may seek merely to suppress certain laws or to alter administrative practice. A rebellion in general is considered to have a much more highly developed political and military organization than an insurrection; in international law it conveys belligerent status. Generally, such belligerent status implies that the belligerent government is attempting by war to free itself from the jurisdiction of the parent state, that it has an organized de facto government, that it is in control of at least some territory, and that it has sufficient proportions to render the issue of the conflict in doubt. An international war, on the other hand, is one between two or more independent states who are recognized members of the family of nations.
In international law the rights of parties to an armed conflict vary greatly with their status. Insurgents have a very limited status; they are not mere pirates or bandits, but their activities do not constitute 'war' in the de jure sense, and they cannot claim against neutrals the privileges of the laws of war. A full rebellion, on the other hand, is a 'war' so far as international law is concerned and the rebel government possesses all the belligerent rights of a fully recognized international state, toward both neutrals and the parent state. Needless to say, a parent state may attempt by force to suppress either an insurrection or a rebellion. In domestic law rebels may be criminals in the eyes of the parent state, and answerable to its courts if their movement fails. (Kelly, Harbison and Belz, The American Constitution, Its Origins And Development, 1955, 6th ed. at pp. 306-07.)
In the American Civil War, the Confederacy tried to define the conflict as an international war. Obviously, the Federals tried to define it as an insurrection. In truth, it was a rebellion. But the historic distinctions are interesting when applied to what's going on in Iraq.
I think it's clear that there is no civil war yet, by any accepted definition of the term. Can it happen? Perhaps, but there would need to be a lot more organization on the part of the al Qaeda and Baathists who are currently running the opposition. I think that's a long way off. Right now, it's just an ad hoc campaign of violence, much like a gang war, with no clearly articulated end other than to chase the US out.
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March 09, 2006
For Those Keeping Score . . .
. . . it's President Bush - 0,
the base - 2
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Posted by: Blu at March 09, 2006 01:54 PM (Zn3gd)
2
yeah I think so. And its not just Bush. I have posted on sites like Red State and RWN that I believe the right is undergoing a change right now to a more libertarian and somewhat populist version, and away from the hard line "Limbaugh" version.
That means Beltway Bozos Better Beware. In the words of Pete Townshend, "We're not gonna take it!"
Posted by: Kyle N at March 09, 2006 02:24 PM (1i69H)
3
I never really equated libertarianism and populism. How do you connect the two? I see them as two very distinct and, at times antithetical, political philosophies.
Also keep in mind that Rush was probably the most important (though clearly not the only) voice in killing the Miers' nomination. How does that fact fit into your paradigm? (His essay in the WSJ about a conservative "crack down" on Bush was brilliant political analysis.)
Regardless, the "base," however it is currently constituted, has in two different cases (Miers & ports) disagreed with the President and has been vocal in its disagreement. And in both cases it seems like the President's "political" folks have proven totally inept. It did not require a high political IQ to realize this port deal was a big loser regarless of whether it made sense from a strategic and policy perspective. Bush needs a shake-up in his administration because they have been off their game since his re-election.
Posted by: Blu at March 09, 2006 04:25 PM (Zn3gd)
4
two words: Karen Hughes
Anyways, it's interesting you mention Rush, Blu. He ended up on the wrong side of this one didn't he. And I certainly didn't like his condescending attitude towards the dissenters. Another interesting aspect was Professor Hugh. He's now 1-1, having been Miers' most vocal backer and also the earliest major critic of the Port deal.
Lastly, I'd like to point out that the Democrats have never figured out how to beat Bush, and the only time they could do it in the last five years was to side with the conservative base. There's a lesson there, if only they could learn it.
Posted by: annika at March 09, 2006 06:58 PM (fxTDF)
5
I agree that Karen Hughes is badly needed in the White House. I don't know if it's because Bush will listen to her when he will not listen to others; or maybe because she balances out Karl Rove, by bringing an extremely down-to-earth touch to political strategy and political messages; but they need her as badly as any organization has ever needed anybody. Why she isn't there is a great mystery to me.
I have to say, I believe forcing Dubai to cancel its ports contract is a bad call. The Bush Administration backed down to a misinformation campaign, imo. I believe the positives would've outweighed whatever teeny sliver of risk was involved. Will those who oppose the deal now call to eject every Islamic nation from every port or airport where they are conducting business? Will those who oppose the deal now call to shut down Dubai's air terminal at JFK - which has received direct flight after direct flight from Dubai for some years - with each flight flying RIGHT PAST MANHATTAN? I think our nation over-reacted. I think those who said Dubai would "own the ports", or who implied anything close to that, were misleading our nation.
I now owe this blog two cents.
Posted by: gcotharn at March 09, 2006 07:42 PM (3Sbj7)
6
My guess is that the various factions (for lack of a better word) that make up the base have each had their fill... you can only take the "trust us" stuff for so long. Miers was the tipping point and this one was just so badly botched that there was no way it was going to win.
I'm still surprised that W got the nomination in 2000 and that he was lucky enough to run into a couple of the worst candidates for president in the last 100 years.
Posted by: KG at March 09, 2006 09:57 PM (SZsz5)
7
He continued, imo, to support DP because;
1) He had already approved them indirectly, and he never admits he was wrong, and
2) He was playing good cop, because Dubai HAS been cooperative in many areas.
Any opinions on the Kemp/Edwards collaboration?
Posted by: will at March 10, 2006 04:41 AM (GzvlQ)
8
gcotharn is right, we lost to a disinformation campaign. In the long run it's a tempest in a teapot. A deuce, too high to mark.
Posted by: Casca at March 10, 2006 07:01 AM (y9m6I)
9
Annie,
Your dislike for Rush, in my opinion, blinds you to his very good political analysis. Now, is he as bright as HH or Medved or Praeger? Of course not. But he is a better political analyst than all of them. If you listened to him on the port deal his analysis was that it was a loser politically but that he felt it made sense strategically (long term) and from a policy perspective. BUT he also felt like it wouldn't happen---that the base and a media happy to jump on any anti-Bush bandwagon would squash it.
For the record, my favorite guy is Medved; but, I believe that Rush is better at gauging issues from a perspective of pure politics more than anybody else on the radio. I don't think he gets enough credit for that or for single-handedly making any of the other right-of-center radio people even possible.
Posted by: Blu at March 10, 2006 12:38 PM (QExPp)
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February 23, 2006
UAE, Our Great Ally In The War On Terror...
. . .
does not recognize "U.S. economic sanctions on Iran and other Middle Eastern countries," according to the Wall Street Journal. Since WSJ is a subscription site, I will quote the article at length, which I found at
Michelle Malkin's blog.
Dubai is believed to have been one of the most important conduits for Iran's nuclear technology acquisition program, according to U.S. court cases and interviews with experts in the field. The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a nongovernment advocacy group, last year published a list of 38 weapons-related smuggling cases since 1982 in which the goods moved through Dubai and the other islands that constitute the United Arab Emirates. Most of the illicit goods crossing Dubai go through its ports.
More generally, according to sanctions experts and numerous U.S. court and regulatory cases, Iran uses Dubai to evade U.S. economic sanctions on Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. The UAE doesn't recognize those sanctions.
Iranian front companies in Dubai routinely obtain prohibited U.S. goods, federal court records show. In one undercover investigation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that resulted in a November 2005 guilty plea in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the representative of an Iranian front company was caught on tape assuring an undercover agent posing as a businessman not to worry about sanctions regulations.
'You are going to export to Dubai, which does not have any regulations. It's a free, uh, country for importing, exporting,' said Khalid Mahmood, according to his guilty plea. Asked if the equipment would then be shipped to Iran, Mr. Mahmood replied, 'Once it comes here, we'll ship it anywhere in the world, no problem.'
Similarly, in 2003, UAE officials refused a U.S. request to intercept a shipment of nuclear technology bound for South Africa by a smuggler named Asher Karni, according to University of Georgia sanctions expert Scott Jones, who works with U.S. agencies on proliferation issues. Mr. Karni was convicted of violating sanctions against weapons of mass destruction last year in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The UAE also was believed to be a nexus for Pakistan's nuclear program and hosted at least two front companies that forwarded material to Islamabad. [emphasis added]
So what. Trust the President. Don't worry. Be happy. Right?
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1
Good snag. Look's like the prez has finally started thinking outside the bubble from the SOTU on.
Posted by: will at February 24, 2006 04:20 AM (z62e3)
2
Annika,
I'd be very careful about critisizing this president on Al Gore's Internet. You know he's listening, right? Probably tapping your phone, too.
As a foreigner, I have to be even more concerned, as I have no rights under the Constitution. That's why I've had to resort to renting all my sex toys. And you know what sex toys are made of? Plastic is what. Know what the base of plastic is? Oil. Oil from the UAE. I checked.
I'm trying really hard to be a good patriot of a country I'm not even a citizen of, but it's getting harder every day. If I give up my "lifestyle," the terrorists win. But my "lifestyle" involves ever so many pteroleum based products.
What's a lonely boy to do?
Posted by: skipptstalin at February 24, 2006 05:33 AM (ohSFF)
3
I'm just inclined to give my guy the benefit of the doubt. I heard Chris Wallace on Fox this morning say, "turn over the ports." Well, fuck, nobody is turning over any ports. They're managing an operation that has a lease interest in some ports.
And heh, if someone lights off a nuke in one of these places, then we won't have to dredge this year.
Posted by: Casca at February 24, 2006 06:20 AM (y9m6I)
4
The whole UAE port thing and the war are too complicated for me. I think that we just have to have faith in our pres. Everybody can make wrong decisions but overall, he is doing ok. The deal proves that a LOT of us are wide awake to our enemy. I'd rather keep my lifestyle than change to one from a thousand years ago. So far so good.
Posted by: Southern(USA)whiteboy at February 25, 2006 05:36 AM (6ldTE)
5
"What's a lonely boy to do?"
Well, give up vaseline, to start with. Find a willing female instead.
Posted by: shelly at February 25, 2006 09:44 AM (BJYNn)
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Nice arguments. I thnk the whole thing highlights the danger of the Iranians having an improvised nuclear explosive device. I doubt that a firm from Londonistan that wants to schuck itself of the job is going to be better than an owner from Dubai that seems to want a continuing business.
Posted by: michael at February 28, 2006 09:36 PM (UVK5Q)
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"The whole UAE port thing and the war are too complicated for me."
"I'm just inclined to give my guy the benefit of the doubt."
bunch of stupid f*cks... you'll be working at Burger King in Mexico in ten years
Posted by: Tired at March 03, 2006 10:24 PM (Dbjg/)
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February 22, 2006
Limbaugh's Sophistry
Surprisingly or not, Rush Limbaugh has come out in support of the administration's decision to back the UAE port deal. His sophistry on the issue is just the type of thing that makes it impossible for me to like the guy consistently.
Rush asks "why would they spend billions of dollars to do something they can do cheaply?" He means that the terrorists could always put a bomb inside a container and ship it. They don't need to buy a port operations company to achieve the same thing.
You see the sophistry? Opponents of this deal aren't saying that Al Qaeda is buying the British concern. Or that the UAE is run by terrorists. That's just silly. And it shows how little Rush thinks of his audience, that he thinks he can slip such an argument past us.
I find myself agreeing with Rush Limbaugh more often than not. But it's only due to the inherent strength of the conservative point of view, not because Rush is especially trustworthy or even likeable. And on this point he's dead wrong.
Rush also says that keeping port operations out of the hands of the UAE won't stop terrorists from infiltrating security. "They can do that now," he says. Well, Rush likes football, so how about this analogy. It's like saying no one should rush Donovan McNabb, because he can always get rid of the ball. In football, and in the War On Terror, you know your opponent is trying to score on you. It's not your job to make it easier for him. Quite the opposite. In war and in football you gotta play the percentages.
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Annie,
I listened to Glenn Beck this morning and he had two callers, one from Corpus Christi(port) and one from the Coast Guard. Neither seemed that concerned with the Dubai/port deal. The CC guy likened the UAE deal to having a foreign country buy and control the FedEx portion of an airport. They're still controlled by all TSA laws and (air)port restrictions.
Now, I'm not saying that I buy it. Personally, I find myself siding with Lileks today. I did want to point out that some people besides Limbaugh don't think that this is really a problem. Then again, one of those people is Jimmy Carter, which leads me to believe it's a rotten notion.
Posted by: physics geek at February 22, 2006 01:57 PM (Xvrs7)
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Hi Annie,
I just wanted to agree with the first part of the post by physics geek. I happen to work for a government agency in the Port of NY/NJ. First, I wanted to point out that the comparison to FedEx that the Coast Guardsman made is spot-on.
Dubai would only control terminals operations at a section of the government-owned port. They would not manage the whole port, there are many berths managed by numerous companies. That is to say they would be in charge of managing a few berths and the loading and unloading of ships and all of the associated tasks. While there no doubt is internal security they'd have to perform themselves, the larger security issues would still be governed by the Port Authority, and DHS (which may or may not be of comfort).
Those that say "we shouldn't hand over control of our ports to foreign companies" are idiots, because most of them are already controlled by foreign companies. P&O is British, and COSCO is Chinese, just to name two, so this is absolutely nothing new.
The thing that seems to scare people is the fact that Dubai is part of UAE which may or may not be tied to terrorism. The fact of the matter is Dubai is more or less an independent state (so I've read) in the UAE with extremely modern society, and probably the most westernized area in all of the Middle East. It is one of the few safe-havens where westerners are free to travel without worry, it is the exact opposite of an islamo-facist state bent on killing Americans.
Dubai is making a large investment in American commerce, and to allow terrorists to use it as a pipeline for waging terror in America would simply be a poor business decision on Dubai's behalf.
As I see it, this is more a knee-jerk reaction by alarmists who think that because the company is owned by a country that happens to be in the Middle East, that we are opening the flood gates for WMDs to be shipped in containers into our country. Let me go on record by saying that I don't think ANY risk is increased by allowing the Dubai Company to control port operations in the U.S. ports.
That said, I think the problem here is that this administration, while defending the decision, has done little to explain the position to the American people. If they would come forward and clearly explain what it means exactly, to have Dubai control some port operations, security-wise, understanding and reason would prevail, and subsequently the debate would die off. The American people deserve the explanation. Soon.
Posted by: Rob at February 22, 2006 03:00 PM (FjMC8)
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I think the public's concern is quite valid.
The thing that seems to scare people is the fact that Dubai is part of UAE which may or may not be tied to terrorism.
It is my understanding that: 2 of the 9/11 hijackers were from the UAE; funds for the operation itself were funnled through UAE banking institutions; and UAE ports were key transit routes for illicit nuclear weapons technologies to other foreign nations, including North Korea.
But you're right -- the American people need an explanation soon.
Posted by: Amy Bo Bamy at February 22, 2006 03:13 PM (Wz2Gp)
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Okay now I'm hearing the port deal benefits us in that we can keep a military presence in Dubai (should you know, something happen with Iran).
Oy.
Posted by: Amy Bo Bamy at February 22, 2006 03:49 PM (Wz2Gp)
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If you want rigorous arguement (beyond what these other commenters have successfully done) you want Drezner. He has great stuff on this. Sorry Annika, you are wrong on this one.
http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/002595.html
Posted by: jason at February 22, 2006 04:06 PM (FPtHm)
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The issue may not be only security for inbound shipments; it may also involve access for outbound shipments. Remember, there are multiple ports involved here. What if, for its own reasons of foreign policy, the foreign government in question orders the port operations company to shut down the facilties..let's say, in the middle of a war? Even the temporary loss of six ports would represent a huge loss to our economy and our military capability.
This isn't a theoretical issue. During the Iraq war, a European company refused to supply a part for the JDAM missile, on grounds that its country was neutral in that war.
Posted by: David Foster at February 22, 2006 04:28 PM (5F0ML)
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Their are people who make things happen; people who watch things happen; people who wonder what happened; and people who don't know that anything happened at all. My point? Ah to know what the real story is. I'm content to live in a representative republic, and trust the guy who represents me.
Posted by: Casca at February 22, 2006 05:43 PM (2gORp)
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If you haven't already, please read the link Jason provided:
http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/002595.html
It may explain the arrangement better than I did.
Posted by: Rob at February 23, 2006 03:24 AM (9DumO)
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Yes, Drezner handles it tidily.
To take the FedEx analogy further, they're the equivalent of ANY tenant at a port, any airline, any cruise line, any shipper. Are we going to say... "no foreign owned transportation entities"?
The Sunday talk shows should be wall-to-wall administration flaks saying just that.
Posted by: Casca at February 23, 2006 06:27 AM (y9m6I)
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The Drezner post is unpersuasive. He makes the same faulty assumptions (dare I say he creates a straw man?) that Limbaugh does. I'm not saying that the UAE company is a terrorist organization, or that it will suddenly become a terrorist organization. I AM saying that it will be a lot easier for terrorist moles to SECRETLY infiltrate the company on the UAE side, and gain information that will help them plan an attack. See the Hewitt link about inside jobs, which i referenced in an earlier post. The UAE firm doesn't have to be a conspirator for this to be a bad idea. They just have to have information that can be stolen and used by the bad guys. Yes, the same info could be stolen from the brits too, but NOT as easily. Do you know the real reason that the London bombings occurred in heavily muslim areas? Not because the terrorists were targeting their own. But because they could operate much more easily among their own. Not only were they subject to less suspicion, there was also a greater chance that, among other muslims, people would be sympathetic to their cause. In a country like the UAE, yes I know - an ally in the WOT, what percentage of the general population thinks that OBL is a good guy? Just a hunch, but I'll bet it's higher than in Great Britiain. Do I want to see all port operations restricted so that there is no foreign ownership? No of course not, just no ownership from countries with a high percentage of people who want to blow me up.
Posted by: annika at February 23, 2006 06:49 AM (fxTDF)
Posted by: David Foster at February 23, 2006 07:18 AM (5F0ML)
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I think there are reasons to be especially careful in a deal such as this and I thought David Foster made a good point that I had not seen mentioned elsewhere. That said, I think the his comment as well as Annikas both make similar faulty assumptions. The UAE firm will "operate" the ports. They cannot pick them up and take them home during a conflict. They will not fire all of the (strongly) union American dockworkers and replace them with Arabs nationals. They will not be handling security, etc. They are taking over leases to operate the terminals.
It is not clear to me (as someone who has worked in international shipping)how a UAE firm operating the ports = "operating among their own"? Your argument about the bombing in London seems to undermine your point - the port leases are currently operated by a LONDON based firm. If, as ou assert, London is already a place where Islamic terrorists are able to easily blend in, then there would seem to be (at best) a marginal increase in the chance of that happening with a UAE based firm.
Too much information is already too readily available (that internet thingy is big I hear) for me to feel that someone could gain a significant amount of "insider" knowledge about port operations that would make the difference in carrying out an attack by infiltrating the company HQ thousands of miles away.
Not to mention (in my view) the cost of looking scared, xenophobic and hypocritical on trade/openness is something to be considered as well.
Posted by: Jason at February 23, 2006 08:32 AM (FPtHm)
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Just to clarify, I ment certain areas of London are heavily Muslim. That is not to say that all of London is heavily muslim. And certainly not to say that the financial centers of London is heavily muslim. So my point stands. In the UAE, a scoundrel has advantages that he or she would not have in London.
I am not concerned about DPW firing union workers, or hadling security etc. Those are faulty assumptions, yes, but I am not making those assumptions. My only concern, as outlined in earlier comments, is that a UAE based operating company is more vulnerable to infiltration and compromise than one which is not based in a middle eastern country. It's that simple. This deal will increase the risk to a level I do not accept. It will make it easier for something to go wrong in the future. No one who supports the deal is arguing that control of operations by a UAE company will make things safer over here. But they still say, hey don't worry, all is fine. Well two weeks ago those same people would have said "we need to beef up port security!" So I think I'm justified in saying that this DPW deal is a step in the wrong direction for homeland security.
Posted by: annika at February 23, 2006 08:48 AM (zAOEU)
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As usual, Lileks already said it way better than I ever could:
"The UAE is not exactly stuffed stem to stern with pro-American individuals; the idea that the emirs will stand foursquare against infiltration by those who have ulterior motives is the sort of wishful thinking that makes buildings fall and cities empty. IÂ’m not worried that some evil emir is putting a pinky to his monocled eye, and saying Mwah! at last I have them where I want them! IÂ’m worried about the guy whoÂ’s three steps down the management branch handing off a job to a brother who trusts some guys who have some sympathies with some guys who hang around some rather energetic fellows who attend that one mosque where the guy talks about jihad 24/7, and somehow someone gets a job somewhere that makes it easier for something to happen."
Posted by: annika at February 23, 2006 09:04 AM (zAOEU)
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Jason..it's true that they can't pick up the ports and take them home. They could, however, direct their local management to cease operations (or, more likely to refuse to handle any shipments bound for country "X") For us to put the port (more specifically, the terminal) back into operation, we would have to:
1)Obtain legal authority to do so.
2)Find managers who are competent to run a terminal operation
3)Get these managers up to speed on the systems and procedures used by the specific terminal
4)Quite possibly, install new systems, if the foreign company refused to make its systems (which would probably involve remote servers) available to us
I'm guessing at least a month.
Posted by: David Foster at February 23, 2006 09:07 AM (5F0ML)
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"The Bush administration secretly required a company in the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with future U.S. investigations before approving its takeover of operations at six American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
It chose not to impose other, routine restrictions.
As part of the $6.8 billion purchase, state-owned Dubai Ports World agreed to reveal records on demand about "foreign operational direction" of its business at U.S. ports, the documents said. Those records broadly include details about the design, maintenance or operation of ports and equipment.
The administration did not require Dubai Ports to keep copies of business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to court orders. It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate U.S. government requests. Outside legal experts said such obligations are routinely attached to U.S. approvals of foreign sales in other industries."
[
Link]
I'm back at square one -- the concern is quite valid.
Posted by: Amy Bo Bamy at February 23, 2006 02:45 PM (Wz2Gp)
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Rush's arrogance is his downfall.
Posted by: Mark at February 23, 2006 06:12 PM (Vg0tt)
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Really? I hadn't noticed his fall...
Posted by: Casca at February 24, 2006 06:24 AM (y9m6I)
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Casca,
That's because when a bough falls in the forrest...........
The man is a total fool. Listening to Rush is a diagnostic that's used to weed out the morons in this society. He actually fell from a height of a few centemeters and landed face first in an Oxcy C haze in the moss.
I forget, why isn't this lying sack of shit in jail?
Posted by: Strawman at February 25, 2006 02:04 PM (0ZdtC)
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February 21, 2006
President Misplaces Shield
On
September 20, 2001, George W. Bush gave one of the great presidential addresses in modern history. In it he made this vow:
It is my hope that in the months and years ahead, life will return almost to normal. We'll go back to our lives and routines, and that is good. Even grief recedes with time and grace. But our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day, and to whom it happened. We'll remember the moment the news came -- where we were and what we were doing. Some will remember an image of a fire, or a story of rescue. Some will carry memories of a face and a voice gone forever.
And I will carry this: It is the police shield of a man named George Howard, who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others. It was given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her son. This is my reminder of lives that ended, and a task that does not end.
I will not forget this wound to our country or those who inflicted it. I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people.
Today, President Bush asked the following
rhetorical question:
I don't understand why it's OK for a British company to operate our ports but not a company from the Middle East when we've already determined security is not an issue.
And I ask this:
What happened to that police shield that's supposed to be in your pocket, Mr. President? What will you tell the victims and their families if port security does turn out to be "an issue?"
This is a big mistake.
Update: Ken sees a parallel with the border situation.
Like the border with Mexico, the President seems to be tone deaf when it comes to guarding our borders. He seems to think it is more important to play nice with Mexico than it is to keep millions of illegal aliens from entering the country. I believe the same mind set the President uses towards Mexico is the same he is employing to rationalize the UAE takeover of our ports. Both situations are wrong and risk our national security.
Update 2: the best argument I have read on the subject was written, not suprisingly,
by Hugh Hewitt.
Posted by: annika at
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1
You seem to agree with the conventional wisdom. I don't know enough yet to say whether this is a good or bad decision. However, when Chucky S., perhaps one of the most vile, disgusting (though shrewed) members of the Senate, is the lead spokesman for a position, I'm always tempted to take a look at the opposing view.
Hey, you could be right; but, all I'm hearing now is politics. None of the talking heads have been terribly convincing. And the politicians appear the most cynical---looking at 2006 more than security. The most neutral voice I've heard on this has been, surprise, Rush Limbaugh.
Anyway, along with you, our esteemed hostess, there are a lot of smart contributors (even you, Strawman) to this blog and I'm looking forward to getting educated.
Posted by: Blu at February 21, 2006 04:48 PM (JBa2Z)
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The only reason there's bi-partisan opposition to this is that the Democrats see it as another Harriet Miers. A way to bang on Bush from two sides again. It's not because they give a rat's about homeland security. I predict hearings, then a bi-partisan roll-over. This thing will go through, and we better hope something bad doesn't happen.
Posted by: annika at February 21, 2006 06:01 PM (fxTDF)
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Malcolm Muggeridge was right. "We live in an age where it is possible to know everything, and understand nothing."
Posted by: Casca at February 21, 2006 10:26 PM (2gORp)
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The second deadliest terrorist incident in U.S. history, one which killed nearly 200 people, was conceived by a citizen of which nation? And does the U.S. still do business with companies from this nation? All the time.
Actually, the thing that surprises me most about Bush is not that he entrusts security to Middle Eastern outfits, nor that he thinks illegal alien amnesty is a good thing. The big surprise is that he has NEVER vetoed a bill. Yes, his party controls Congress, but it's still surprising that Bush has NEVER exercised the veto. I find this especially ironic when comparing Bush to Gerald Ford, a creature of Congress if there ever was one, but someone who understood the powers of the executive and how to use them.
Posted by: Ontario Emperor at February 21, 2006 11:39 PM (etmLz)
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It is Customs, the Port Authority and the Coast Guard that are responsible for security not the companies running the terminals. This is all politics.
Posted by: Shug at February 22, 2006 08:13 AM (U7X+u)
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Shug...I don't think it's possible for the Coast Guard, the Port Authority, and Customs to be fully responsible for port security. These places are too big, and there is too much going on. A malevolent port operating company could probably sneak an illicit container off the ship and onto a trailer or a rail car chassis without the authorities knowing anything about it. This could probably also be done by a conspiracy of malevolent employees without the operating company knowing anything about it.
Posted by: David Foster at February 22, 2006 09:20 AM (5F0ML)
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Maybe I watch too much 24, but I'm not convinced that you can prevent a mole from getting into the system once you hand over operations to the UAE company. There isn't such a solid dividing line between security and operations as you might want to believe. By necessity, the two speres must have knowledge of each other, and therein lies the weakness.
Maybe security will all be handled by Americans, but security details would have to be disclosed to operations in the UAE. I don't think it would be out of the realm of possibility (as Bush has said) that our enemies would know this and try to gain access to the security details by getting moles into the UAE company. Or trying to turn sympathetic UAE employees.
Unfortunately, it seems Bush is willing to bet that this won't happen.
Posted by: annika at February 22, 2006 09:35 AM (zAOEU)
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It's time for a serious discussion of port security procedures: conducted partly in public and partly in closed Congressional hearings. It's certainly not possible for all incoming containers to be inspected; there are just too many of them. What is essential is that the freight documentation (describing the container contents) be produced by trusted entities, that there be a rigorous process for determining who those entities are, and that the system for receiving and reviewing those documents is not easily hacked, either electronically or by the insertion of human moles. It is also essential that nothing get out of the container yard without matching an appropriate document.
Posted by: David Foster at February 22, 2006 10:10 AM (5F0ML)
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I just read an informative post on Michelle Malkin's blog. Defintely worth a read.
Posted by: Blu at February 22, 2006 10:48 AM (JBa2Z)
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If it is not possible for the Coast Guard, the Port Authority, and Customs to be fully responsible for port security then *that* is the problem not who owns the company running one of the terminals. In matters like this I would not trust a British, Danish, Chinese, or US Corporation any more or less then a UAE one
Posted by: Shug at February 22, 2006 11:56 AM (U7X+u)
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February 19, 2006
And What Do We Do With Witches?
Burrrrn them!

A Muslim pop singer has been forced to hire bodyguards to protect her during a visit to Britain next month after she received a string of death threats from religious extremists.
US-based Deeyah is due in London next month to promote a new single and video, released tomorrow. But the track 'What Will It Be?' has already outraged hardline Islamists here as it promotes women's rights.
Her performances with a clutch of male dancers and revealing outfits have also deeply offended many Muslims. In one scene in her latest video, the singer drops a burqa covering her body to reveal a bikini.
Oh the horror!
The 28-year-old singer claims that in the past she has been spat upon in the street and told that her family would be in danger if she did not tone down her work. The situation is now so bad that Deeyah feels she cannot visit Britain without protection. 'I can no longer walk around without specially assigned bodyguards' . . . I would be lying if I said abuse from religious fanatics didn't upset or scare me.
. . .
'I have been on the verge of a breakdown. Middle-aged men have spat at me in the street and I have had people phone me and tell me they were going to cut me up into pieces. I became this figure of hate simply because of what I do and wear.'
More Deeyah biographical info
here.
I can't tell you whether I like her music, because I can't find any samples on the web and she's not on iTunes. Then again, it doesn't really matter. Now that Muslim extremists have been granted an absolute veto power over anything "offensive," I don't really expect to be seeing Deeyah at the top of the Billboard charts anytime soon.
Here's some lyrics i was able to find, from the offending song, "What Will It Be."
From the land of the free to the jewel of the empire
Does the truth only come from the top of a holy man's spire?
From three paces back, covered head to toe
Are the rules just for the masses and written just for show?
. . .
(chorus)
Do you stand up, lay down or follow?
What will it be?
Will it all be the same again tomorrow?
What will it be?
You can claim it but the words are hollow
Do you stand up, lay down or swallow?
What will it be?
. . .
We don't take it lightly when you threatinin women,
How you have so much hate and faith in religion.
Fake in the system, need to take a break wit the dissin,
Before you end up in the lake where they fishin.
Hearin bout the muslim madona, asian J Lo,
Lookin for drama (OK) if you say so.
If you that religious and not with trendy clothes,
Then what you doin' even watchin' videos.
I think this chick has a death wish. But as Oprah might say,
You go girl!
Update: Listen to Deeyah here.
[cross-posted at A Western Heart]
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1
Great post, Annika. Doesn't this stuff just make you sick to your stomach? I get furious when I read stories this. Where is the Feminist Left? Too busy hating Bush to say anything about the condition of women in the Middle East. Not a word about how many woman have benefited from our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Doesnt' fit the template. What is even more disgusting is that there are going to be those that will somehow try to excuse Islam for this incident just like they do for all the other atrocities commited in its name. Some dumb shit will bust out the "moral equivalence" between all religions nonsense. Sicker still, some will blame the woman for not being more "sensitive" to her religion and culture.
Hate to be so un-PC folks, but Islam----yes, Islam. Not Christianity or Judaism---is the major threat to human freedom in the 21st century. Get used to it. It aint' going anywhere.
Posted by: Blu at February 19, 2006 04:02 PM (JBa2Z)
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look at that slutty outfit she has on in the pic: arms uncovered, hair hanging out everywhere... I'm feeling a fatwa coming on... or, er, somethin...
Posted by: gcotharn at February 19, 2006 07:37 PM (74mUn)
3
Listen to some
Deeyah (
Deeyahcide; Plan of My Own; What Will It Be)
Posted by: bettiwettiwoo at February 19, 2006 08:41 PM (ZGQP0)
4
I seem to recall that Jay Leno's wife has something or another to do with rights for females in some oppressed area or another.
Why can't they declare "Kids Bop" offensive to Muslims? A bunch of kids sing adult songs that have been cleaned up significantly. It's hawked on TV all the time. Argh.
Posted by: Ontario Emperor at February 19, 2006 10:33 PM (tvxBS)
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I would like to issue my own Fahtwa... on Phil Collins, GODDAM I am so sick of his crap, I hear it everywhere. You are all encouraged to kill Phil Collins on sight. If you succeed I will insure that you will gain 72 virgins in heaven, or 72 raisens, can't really be too sure about that translation.
Posted by: Kyle N at February 20, 2006 02:11 PM (Wtgpw)
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Blu,
As much as I generaly find your solutions to the problems endemic to the planet abhorrent, your identification of Islam as the most dangerous force on earth (more dangerous than even Dick Chaney) accurate. The test of the civilized world will be the challenge of fanatical islam in current decade.
It is a frightening enemy that welcomes your death and its own equally.
Posted by: strawman at February 20, 2006 05:01 PM (0ZdtC)
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Serious courage.
And to those people..who seem to lurk especially in journalism, entertainment, and academia..who love to pat themselves on the back for their "courage" in opposing GWB yet who are the first to quail at a threat from a jihadi..read about this woman and see what real courage looks like.
Not that these people could recognize it if they see it.
Posted by: David Foster at February 20, 2006 08:41 PM (5F0ML)
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Mr. Forster,
It is one thing to agree that some followers of Islam are a very real threat to many civilized countries and institutions on the planet and quite another to believe that GWB has a clue about correcting them. He does not. The state of affairs with regard to this problem are in a downward spiral and nothing afoot is reversing the trend. Regardless of how many we will slaughter in Iraq or anywhere else, a fundamentally grass roots movement will prevail or at least maitain its strength. Nothing I have seen since 911 tells me the "courage" of GWB's policies have resulted in anything more than the destruction of Iraq, the death of too many Americans and Iraqi's, increased hostility toward the US around the world, the alienation of our allies, the sloping of our economy to benefit the wealthy, the enormous accumulation of our debt in the hands of our competitors, the reduction of services to the needy at home, the imperialization of the Presidency, the stagnation of wages and addition of low paying jobs, and too much more to list. Oh, on the plus side inflation seems controlled and interest rates low, but these two things are what fuels our economy, not industrial output or an increase in personal wealth. Under the umbrella of having a plan to make us safe this asshole is engaged in a creating a legacy so ruinous that it will take decades to reverse.
Posted by: strawman at February 21, 2006 09:15 AM (0ZdtC)
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strawman...my point was not to argue that GWB is correct on Iraq, though I do believe that. My point is that in truth, it takes no particular courage to oppose those policies, particularly if one works in an industry like entertainment or academia in which 90% of one's peers and decision-makers think the same way. Yet academics and Hollywood types are continually patting themselves on the back for their courage...sorry, it's like giving yourself the Distinguished Flying Cross for things you have done in a combat flight simulator. Meanwhile, these same individuals show surprising amounts of diffidence when it comes to any behavior that might make them targets of the jihadis. It's one thing to engage in "transgressive" behavior that might upset little old Catholic ladies from Dubuque; it's quite another to do "transgressive" things that offend those who might actually kill you. Making the distinction might be called prudence; it certainly isn't courage.
Deeyah *does* show genuine courage, and I have seen little interest among the "progressives" in supporting people like her.
Posted by: David Foster at February 21, 2006 10:27 AM (5F0ML)
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David Forster,
Deeyah may either be displaying courage or a death wish, we may never no but I try not to be too critical toward those who show some effort, to raise their voice against the forces of oppression. On ther other hand I don't feel that all that can be spoken or drawn ought to be. I think the most difficult aspect of free speech is not to abuse the privilage. Self censorship is practiced by the American press on a daily basis as it is in all western countries. Gunter Grass was interviewed the other day and compared the Danish cartoons to the cartoons of the Nazi propaganist's images of Jews. American newspapers would not run a cartoon of Jesus with a crown of dynamite blowing up abortion clinics. Or the Pope being fellatedby a mafia chief as thanks because HH might have argued for forgiveness in some crimal matter related to the mafia.
Drawing insulting streotypical cartoons about the Prophet of one billion people to make a statement about a relatively few individuals does not amount to an important excerise of free speech. Defending his right to have done it misses the point entirely. Free speech was intended to allow all discourse that furthers discussion of an issue such that the government shall not act to protect its interests by censorship. All private organizations may excerise restrictions on speech and behavior. A neighborhood association can have a no flag and banner rule as easily as it may impose a no yellow house with red shutter rule. Newspapers all censure themselves for various reasons not the least of which is their economic survival.
I think the Danish cartoon incident is an unfortunate error on the part of an editor who confused free speech with his insensitivity to a culture he holds in low regard.
Posted by: Strawman at February 21, 2006 11:20 AM (0ZdtC)
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"Gunter Grass was interviewed the other day and compared the Danish cartoons to the cartoons of the Nazi propaganist's images of Jews. American newspapers would not run a cartoon of Jesus with a crown of dynamite blowing up abortion clinics. Or the Pope being fellatedby a mafia chief as thanks because HH might have argued for forgiveness in some crimal matter related to the mafia."
Strawman, I didn't see the interview with Mr. Grass. But based on what you quoted he is a fool. Comparing those VERY TAME cartoons to any of the examples stated is very simply inane. Comic strips/cartoons ridiculing Christianity are ubiquitous. Islamic newspapers routinely display the most vile anti-semitic propoganda. (Indeed, they teach it in their schools.) This sounds like the very same moral relativism/moral equivalence crap that one expects from the politically correct. Islam has a long history of being able to dish it out but not being able to take it. This religion deserves no special consideration---indeed, if anything at all, it deserves special condemnation for its moral cowardice and history of unending violence against those who either oppose it or are apathetic to it.
All this so called "rage" is phony anyway. The "riots" are staged Islamic propoganda by people with a very specific anti-Western/anti-civilization agenda.
Posted by: Blu at February 21, 2006 01:29 PM (JBa2Z)
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p.s. It also worthy to note that those who bomb abortion clinics are pariahs in Christianity. Alternatively, those who blow up innocent woman and children are heroes to Muslims. There is no equivalence. When will we start seeing mass demonstrations against suicide bombers? (Besides the recent hotel bombing in Egypt, which ended killing a bunch of Muslims, when is the last time you saw a spontaneous Muslim reaction against terroism.) These people give tacit support to the "few" by there utter and near total silence.
Posted by: Blu at February 21, 2006 01:37 PM (JBa2Z)
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thats very expansive of Stawdog to be all against insulting someones religion. I wonder where he was on the whole Piss Christ episode? I know all his lefty fellow travelers were for it.
Posted by: Kyle N at February 21, 2006 03:25 PM (K0pst)
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Blu,
Much of what you say is true, nonetheless it is no sin to be more civilized or less provocative than your ranting neighbor. Yes they dish it out, and yes they should be able to take it, and to a certain extent the outrage is a staged exposition and opportunity to vent at the west, but to say that the west's freedom of expression is compromised if a Danish cartoonist gives a second thought to the effect of his work is just not true.
I can't say that I have seen many Christians out protesting the actions of the clinic bombers and whether they are treated as pariahs by most Christians does not mitigate the actions of millions christians who praise them and give them support. The same is true of Muslims. The majority condem the jihadist and suicide bombers yet many priase them and lend support. I think a cartoon deriding the passive acceptance of the majority of Muslims toward crimes committed in the name of Mohammed or Allah might be more to the point.
I stand by my claim that the American press would not print similarly "tame" cartoons about Jesus or the Pope or a great Rabbi.
Posted by: Strawman at February 21, 2006 03:27 PM (0ZdtC)
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Kyle,
I think you confuse the motives and obscure the point of what many people do and say. I will defend the Danish cortoonist's right to draw and print whatever he wishes, as I and my fellow travelers will do for the artist that sat a cross in his own unine. That does not mean I endorse his work nor agree with his point of view. What is does mean, however, is that I will try to stop the likes of you who would try to deny his rights with petty bullshit about sacrosanct themes and would try to selectivly legislate his freedom of expression to suit your beliefs. He may be guilty of creating offensive and unsavory art but what you wish for is far more offensive.
I wish the world were a more considerate place and no one actively expressed their rage at each other or felt the need to tear down anothers beliefs, but I do not think for a moment a government can legislate gentility and compassion into existence.
Posted by: Strawman at February 21, 2006 03:41 PM (0ZdtC)
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"I think a cartoon deriding the passive acceptance of the majority of Muslims toward crimes committed in the name of Mohammed or Allah might be more to the point."
Yes, I agree, that would be an excellent way of pointing out that reality.
"I can't say that I have seen many Christians out protesting the actions of the clinic bombers and whether they are treated as pariahs by most Christians does not mitigate the actions of millions christians who praise them and give them support."
I don't think you have a good feel for the larger Christian community. Every major leader of every major denomination condems the bombing of abortion clinics. More importantly, the bombing of abortion clinics and violence against doctors/nurses is, in a word, rare. This is not the case with Islam, where violence in its name occurs ON A DAILY BASIS. And, moreover, is rarely ever condemned by its religious leaders, or its adherents.
Posted by: Blu at February 21, 2006 04:57 PM (JBa2Z)
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Blu,
Let me first rise to my feet after my faint upon reading your post to our Hostess's latest tilt away from the idiot chimp on the imprudent choice of a protetion company for our port protection. I have no idea whether or not they are a capable choice, only that it is a choice so tin eared it makes Chaney look like a smooth operator.
But as for your comment that violence is rare in the abortion struggle I would argue that every vessel bulging, shouting, gruesome poster baring, driveway and sidewalk clogging christian who tries to impose his/her will in front of a clinic, threatening young women with hell-fire and damnation and spewing outright lies about the impact of the procedure on their bodies,is committing a violent act.
Posted by: Strawman at February 21, 2006 06:31 PM (0ZdtC)
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You won't get an argument from me on the politics. The clear and easy choice is to say "fuck no!" But I've tried to listen to the pros and cons sans a knee-jerk reaction. From what I can tell so far, it seems like the security piece hasn't changed only the operational piece (i.e. the piece the Brits had previously). I also think the President's question was legitimate. (The question cited by Annika in the post.) There is no doubt in my mind that had the administration said no to this deal that they would have been branded as Islamophobes by the very same Dems who are crying foul now. I think the Reps are in a tough position. The "pro" side of this argument cannot be given in a 15 second soundbite. I plan on reading more about this. Regardless, even if the President is making the even-handed call with a partner on the War on Terror, it is probably a loss politically.
In regard to your argument about protesters, I can only respond by saying that a picture and a slogan are a far, far cry from murder.
Posted by: Blu at February 21, 2006 10:32 PM (JBa2Z)
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Blu,
The port security issue seems to be pure politics. If the British firm that had been doing the work ( I have no idea if they were through or effective) has only changed with regard to a transfer of ownership than I think this is an unfortunate turn for the President but not a change in the status of port security. I, of course, don't pity his position but rather revel in his bad luck.
Ugly pictures, throbing temple veins and shouting are not murder but your word was violence so I went with that. Can you agree it is violence against women and I'll agree it is not murder.
Posted by: Strawman at February 22, 2006 10:50 AM (0ZdtC)
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Yet another example of why we in the west must confront these intolerant bastards at every opportunity. The right to freedom of expression means NOTHING unless we can say things that will offend people, even offend them deeply. No compromise on this issue can be acceptable.
Posted by: Perry de Havilland at February 24, 2006 03:36 PM (UDEKc)
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Sorry, just read this by Strawman:
"I think the Danish cartoon incident is an unfortunate error on the part of an editor who confused free speech with his insensitivity to a culture he holds in low regard."
Are you kidding? Flemming Rose (the editor in question) did this to prove two things (he has always been very clear on this) - (1) to show that there was a climate of intimidation caused by muslims against people who wanted to express themselves in ways they found offensive (2) that offending people is indeed a part of free speech and that in Denmark, as in most western nations, the right to free speech trumps religious bigotry...
Well point (1) was proven beyond any reasonable doubt as Muslims across the whole damn WORLD held a protracted Kristalnacht against anything Danish in responsive to something the disapproved of and point (2) was proved when the government of Denmark stated to any Islamic leader who was paying attemtion that they regretted the offense caused but HAD NOT POWER TO LIMIT FREE SPEECH. So... far from a mistake, publishing the cartoons in Jyllands-Posten proved beyond ANY doubt everything that Flemming Rose wanted to prove. And just incidently he propelled his newspaper from an obscure right-wing Danish paper to the torch bearer of western values across the free (i.e. non-Islamic) world. I wish I could make 'errors' like that!
BTW, I have blogged the hell out of this incident and have over 1,000 comments on about 8 articles (over 670 on one in particular where published the cartoons). It is a huge issue in the culture war as not only must we face down intolerant Islam, it puts the home-grown multi-cultural left in a lose-lose situation. How sweet is that?
Posted by: Perry de Havilland at February 24, 2006 03:52 PM (UDEKc)
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February 18, 2006
News Flash: Dick Cheney Was Careless
I just don't get all the hub-bub about whether Dick Cheney shot Whittington at 30 yards or at 30 feet or whatever. What's the point of that argument? If he fired at some closer range does that mean he was
extra-super careless instead of just careless? Where are the Cheney critics going with this argument?
Oh I know. The theory goes something like this:
If Cheney lied about the distance it means he lied about WMD. We can't have a Vice President who goes around shooting people. He's reckless. He's evil evil evil. Halliburton Halliburton Halliburton. AAAAAAAgh!!!
[head explodes]
You can only clutch at straws for so long until you run out of straws.
Like that? I just made that one up.
I love how people are saying Cheney was drunk. Like that disqualifies you from being a world leader. I think Churchill put that one to rest sixty years ago.
Look everybody. This was an unfortunate accident, but it's not going to get anybody impeached. Bush and Cheney are going to finish out their term. Get used to it.
Posted by: annika at
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Did anyone happen to catch Mary Matlin on Imus?
She nailed the story by saying that "Cheney stopped to be sure that his friend was well cared for and getting the right treatment instead of sending an urgent flash to the White House Press Corps. That caused David Gregory's hair to be on fire".
C'mon guys, hunters get shot carelessly every day. This wasn't bullets!!! It was bird shot, you know, BB's. Let's get real.
Isn't the situation in Iran a little more serious?
Posted by: shelly at February 18, 2006 07:43 PM (BJYNn)
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I haven't been following the story all that closely (I'm too busy getting ready for nonstop Kiira Korpi koverage), but I figured this was as good a time as any to check the Air America affiliate in Los Angeles. Normally I find it boring...most broadcasts are variations on the theme "Bush is stupid!"...but I figured they might have something new after this earthshaking event. And I was pleasantly surprised - the "Dick Cheney's Got a Gun" parody was halfway decent - but then they got into the whole "alcoholic" "obstruction of justice" thing. Boring again...
Posted by: Ontario Emperor at February 18, 2006 09:49 PM (IzM+M)
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What I want to know is why all the media outlets were describing the lawyer Cheney shot as "the Cheney victim". I mean come on! No bias in the mainstream media?
Posted by: Jeff at February 19, 2006 06:14 AM (Oy8FT)
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Could this play into deeply held liberal belief that Conservatives are evil? And into the meme that Cheney is extra evil? Could the unstated/unconscious logic be:
Hunting is evil,
Hunting + shooting your friend is extra evil,
This is proof that we are right:
Cheney is extra evil!
Re not contacting the D.C. press corps:
Many claim the D.C. press corps considers itself an actual fourth branch of government, which the Executive and the Legislative are forced to deal with, and which weilds actual power via their keyboards and microphones.
Cheney, especially, ignores the press, and treats them
as if they have no real power - his handling of informing the D.C. press corps being a prime example of his dismissiveness, and his refusal to take them seriously. This contributed to the piqued and fearful reaction of the D.C. press. Everyone will fiercely fight against the loss of their own power(whether that power is real or imagined).
Posted by: gcotharn at February 19, 2006 01:04 PM (74mUn)
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I find it interesting that you (and some of your readers) feel compelled to create strawmen to then beat on.
Posted by: will at February 19, 2006 06:50 PM (h7Ciu)
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Will/Skye,
Are you willfully ignorant? Annika's post doesn't create any "strawmen." Did you catch the Dems talking points on the weekend shows? Here it was: The shooting wasn't the point. Oh sure, it obviously was an awful accident. The real point is the VP's "penchant for secrecy" (same phrase used by at least 4 people that I heard---no doubt a huge coincedence)as illustrated by how the story was handled and as illustrated by (fill in the blank with you favorite liberal fairy-tale.)
So, no "strawmen"....just perfect anticipation of the Left's tired, silly political games. Well done, Annika.
Posted by: Blu at February 20, 2006 11:06 AM (JBa2Z)
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Apparently, Will hasn't noticed the last 2 comments in Annie's "Hunting Foul" thread:
http://blog.mu.nu/cgi/splorp.cgi?entry_id=157109
We don't need to create strawmen, they come to us.
Posted by: reagan80 at February 20, 2006 12:06 PM (K9tdw)
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Well, actually, it is now the two comments prior to the last. I couldn't help but reply to Mr. Murphy....it was just too tempting.
Posted by: Blu at February 20, 2006 12:28 PM (JBa2Z)
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February 15, 2006
Gotta Love The Beeb
The BBC, no surprise, was one of the many media outlets that refused to show the twelve Jyllands-Posten cartoons.
Their excuse was as lame and hypocritical as any other you've seen:
We recognised that among our users there is a wide range of different cultural sensitivities and that the images would cause genuine offence to some.
Tut, tut. Don't want to give offence you know. So sorry about that freedom of the press thing you Yanks are always on about.
Of course, they forgot to mention anything about that fear of gettin' blowed up thing. There's that too.
Interestingly, the Beeb has no problem with potentially offending Muslims when there is no chance that their offices will become targets for retaliation.
Exhibit A: the BBC didn't hesitate to plaster their website with the newest Abu Ghraib photos. Are they really taking the position that those photographs would not "cause genuine offence to some?" Or is the reason for their newfound boldness the fact that any retaliation would be directed at American troops, not journalists whose lives are, as everyone knows, worth more than the rest of ours.
I also love the disclaimer they added to the link in the main story.
Warning: You may find some pictures disturbing
The obvious rhetorical question seems to be: why wasn't such a disclaimer good enough to allow them to publish the cartoons?
Oh, yeah. It's that darn "gettin blowed up" problem.
Posted by: annika at
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You pose a very interesting and frustrating angle.
Are you saying that the position of the British press is that putting soldiers lives in danger is tolerable, but not so for journalists?
If this "every person for themself" mentality is true shouldn't the military stop protecting journalists? Obviously it is impossible to know for sure what the intention of the media in England is since it will constantly be changing.
Isn't the main lesson here that the only thing you can count on, from the media, is that it will take the side that makes the West look bad and the Middle East as the victim? Isn't this constant self-battering of the Western ideology self destructive?
I'm just amazed how few Muslim leaders come out and condone the violence. What is that religion working towards anyways if this is how its followers react to everything?
Posted by: Michael at February 15, 2006 11:23 AM (+f3EY)
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I don't think the Abu Ghraib photos would "cause genuine offence to some" as much as cause embarrassment to the Bush Administration. And the Bush Administration admonished the EU press for showing the cartoons, so you must be disagreeing with him.
Posted by: skye at February 15, 2006 12:11 PM (GzvlQ)
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Skye,
You are right; the Bush Admin did follow the PC lead of its State Dept, which was pathetic. This is just another illustration of the Admins unwillingness to call out the Muslim community and its medieval world view. This is an area (along with border security) that I think makes the Bushies look PC and weak.
The BBC is generally willing to put out anything that is anti-American and anti-Bush. That is just one of the reasons why their credibility has been under attack for quite a while.
Posted by: Blu at February 15, 2006 01:06 PM (Sr3zL)
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I don't understand your point Skye. You don't think the Abu Ghraib photos are more offensive than the cartoons? And btw, I do disagree with the State Department's condemnation of the Danish newspaper.
Posted by: annika at February 15, 2006 01:07 PM (BbAWh)
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Regarding the State Department's response to the cartoon intifada, Victor Davis Hanson had this to say:
[Instead, by letting the Europeans take the lead with the Iranian negotiations, and keeping nearly silent about the cartoon hysteria, the United States essentially has told the Europeans, “Here is the sort of restrained sober and judicious global diplomacy that you so welcome.”]
( http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-2_14_06_VDH.html )
Instapundit also posted this:
[UPDATE: Reader Shivan V. Mahendrarajah emails:
"While I agree that the State Dept. was wrong to be nuanced in their response re the cartoons of the Prophet and the ensuing brouhaha, in a Machiavellian way, I think it brilliant (though unintentionally so, otherwise that would be giving the State Dept. way too much credit). Here's why:
1. U.S. Embassies worldwide have not been stormed, attacked or burned, and if they had been, Marines would have to disperse the crowds to prevent another Teheran, even shoot to kill (one of my former Army Drill Sergeants was in that sort of a situation in Baghdad - very unpleasant), and shootings by Marines would exacerbate the anti-Americanism that currently prevails and take the focus off the Muslim v. Europe fight as it currently stands;
2. Maybe now the Euroweenies will wake up and see what we "imperialist" Amerikaners have seen. . . ."
One hopes that this will serve as a wakeup call in some quarters.]
Posted by: reagan80 at February 15, 2006 02:04 PM (K9tdw)
Posted by: Roach at February 15, 2006 03:58 PM (MRlvg)
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We recognised that among our users there is a wide range of different cultural sensitivities and that the images would cause genuine offence to some.
If I lived in the UK, the fact that I'd have to pay a tax on my TV every year to support this sort of crap--even if I never watched the BBC--would "cause genuine offence" to me. As much I'd hope for them to do so, somehow I don't think that Auntie would either 1) cease to exist or 2) do away with its license fee, just to assuage my "cultural sensitivities."
The fact that, despite a more, um, vibrant print media than possibly anywhere else, many if not most people in the UK still get all their news from the BBC might make one wonder why they're not even MORE leftwing. And, of course, the fact that journalistic establishments everywhere routinely praise the BBC is reason enough among countless others for it to have been broken up and privatized ages ago.
Posted by: Dave J at February 15, 2006 09:53 PM (DWKDy)
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"I don't understand your point Skye. You don't think the Abu Ghraib photos are more offensive than the cartoons? And btw, I do disagree with the State Department's condemnation of the Danish newspaper."
We'll have to examine what we mean by "offence" (good training for your upcoming profession). The cartoons offended some Muslims for religious adherence reasons we all now know. The Abu Ghraib photos enraged Iraqi citizens, and disturbed many others, because of the treatment of detainees, not because of the intent of an illustrator. The treatment was a news item, not an editorial cartoon, and as news, rightfully belonged in the news media.
In a generic sense of the word 'offence', I believe one could argue equally well on both sides of the debate. In the sense that I believe BBC was using the term, the Abu Ghraib photos were not offensive the religious beliefs, but embarrassing to political elements because of their (to some) unethical actions.
BTW, I normally post here as 'will' but my frequently used handle now shows up here as a default. Perhaps I used it some time ago, but I just felt it was best to keep in the open.
Posted by: skye at February 17, 2006 06:00 AM (GzvlQ)
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The original publication of the cartoons was needlessly provocative; if the intent was to satirize the apparent contradiction between words and deeds in parts of the Islamic world, there were surely more clever and even thought provoking ways for the cartoonist.
While I agree with Skye/Will about the difference between "news" and "commentary", the reactions of the various communities have changed the cartoons from commentary to news. The events post-publication are newsworthy - and how can the BBC and US press report on the controversary without showing the cartoons (or at least a portion?). While some Christians may have found the 1989 "Piss Christ" and related NEA funded "art" objectionable, publishing pictures of some of the "offensive" works was important so the public could understand the issue.
The same is true here. While the original publication was a gross example of the failure to balance freedom with responsibility/prudence, the events and reactions (bounty on the head of the cartoonists now!) are news -- and the press should include a portion of the cartoons since those items are central to understanding the larger issues.
I do agree with thought the reluctance of US media to show the photos puts the spotlight on European nations for a change. Perhaps I'm harboring a little resentment for when the French show up in New Orleans to complain about lack of government action post-Katrina, the media conveniently forgets how *15,000* French citizens died over a couple of weeks in the summer of 2003 when most of the government was on summer holiday (but I digress..)
Posted by: Col Steve at February 17, 2006 10:31 AM (pj2h7)
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February 10, 2006
Worlds Apart
Posted by: annika at
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Nice banner graphic, love the bunny slippers, but I'm a bit offput that Annika doesn't flash when moused-over.
Posted by: Casca at February 11, 2006 08:20 AM (2gORp)
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Ha, that would be a trick!
Posted by: annika at February 11, 2006 08:34 AM (hr7o7)
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I just had a scary thought. Munich 1972. Hope not.
Posted by: Ontario Emperor at February 12, 2006 09:15 PM (62+YC)
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February 05, 2006
What? Was Hugh G. Rection Unavalable?

I looked all over my favorite humorous blogger sites and I couldn't find anyone who took a shot at the obvious joke. I guess everybody's too busy blogging about the cartoon rioting I blogged about ages ago, although I didn't get any awards for having done so. Do I have to do everything? Well here goes.

HOUSE GOP GETS BOEHNER
Despite stiff opposition, House Republicans selected Ohio Representative John Boehner as Majority Leader on Friday.
"This appointment might be hard-on his family, but Boehner's a real stand-up guy," said one observer. "He always seems to rise to the occasion."
Others were more skeptical. "Woody make a good leader? It's hard to say," said one deflated opponent.
Boehner was visibly excited about his new job. "I'm so pumped up right now, i can barely contain myself," he said. "I look forward to coming to work and plugging away until I'm exhausted."
Posted by: annika at
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"Deflated opponent"? LMAO!
Still, I wish Shadegg would've gotten the job instead.
Posted by: reagan80 at February 05, 2006 11:10 AM (K9tdw)
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Well, as a former Ohio State Republican Committeeman, I can reliably inform you that he was ALWAYS known as Boner. He's one of the true believers who was with Newt at the creation. He's perfect for the job. I loved Chis Wallace's "Dean Martin" comparison.
Posted by: Casca at February 05, 2006 11:46 AM (2gORp)
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huhhh...uhhhhuuhh... You said Boner!
/damm I miss Beavis and Butthead, greatest mind knumbing garbage ever.
Posted by: Kyle N at February 05, 2006 08:23 PM (+xN+u)
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Wow, did you really call him a dickhead?...
Posted by: will at February 06, 2006 04:48 AM (GzvlQ)
Posted by: tim at February 06, 2006 06:55 AM (cqZXM)
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My personal favorite was "Boehner smokes Blunt."
Posted by: the Pirate at February 06, 2006 01:18 PM (0ZKi5)
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Good stuff, although I might have tried to work "throbbing with excitement" or "spurted ahead of the admittedly flaccid competition" into the piece. But that's just me.
Posted by: physics geek at February 06, 2006 03:55 PM (auFn9)
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Oh Annika, your post left this queen's bratwurst harder than diamonds in the Yukon. With the selection of Beautiful Boehner, now homosexuals of America have no excuse not to not stand up with the Boehner and punch holes for all Republicans from now on!
Oh my! The things I'd do with a video camera, Mitt Romney, the Boehner, and a tube of KY!
Oh honey...
Posted by: Jermaine St. Pierre II at February 06, 2006 03:55 PM (Vg0tt)
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How do these folks find this blog?
Posted by: shelly at February 06, 2006 08:46 PM (BJYNn)
Posted by: annika at February 07, 2006 10:59 AM (IPTAn)
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Why does Boehner always throw up in those rubber bags?
Posted by: Radical Redneck at February 09, 2006 07:38 AM (Hn8NG)
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I predict a renewed emphasis on tracking Osama back to his cave.
Posted by: Ontario Emperor at February 10, 2006 01:10 PM (FPdMX)
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http://dickarmy.ytmnd.com
Posted by: reagan80 at February 11, 2006 03:48 PM (K9tdw)
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February 04, 2006
Can She Do "Positive?"
I just got done watching a tape of Hillary's sit-down interview with Jane Pauley at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco. The event was held on January 28th and sponsored by the San Francisco Bar Association. I've never forced myself to listen to Hillary for as long as I did tonight. It was difficult.
The substance of what she said was unremarkable, except for one outrageous statement. She would have us believe that President Bush is deliberately trying to prevent the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast in order to stop democratic voters from returning to the area. Naturally, the fellow travelers in the audience ate that craziness up. Pauley was only there to suggest topics for Hillary to pontificate on, not to challenge any logical inconsistencies in what her guest of honor might say.
Otherwise, Hillary's chat was a real snooze-fest. Her great handicap is the opposite of Bill's great strength. She is simply not a very charismatic person in public. She can do the subtle-cynical dig well enough for a sophisticated an admiring audience of San Francisco lawyers. She can do the criticism thing. She can do sarcasm and condescention. She can be a pompous know-it-all too. But can she do the "positive" thing?
I hate the positive thing myself. But that's because I ― like you, and like the people in the audience at the Masonic ― am a very sophisticated political junkie. We all have a well developed sense of irony and cynicism, which we either supress or put to use as needed, in service of our chosen party.
Of course, presidential elections are not won or lost by the votes of sophisticates like us. In this country, it's the wobbly middle 20% of voters who decide elections. Those folks who can't be bothered to decide until the last minute respond best to a focused, positive message, often repeated.
The simple positive message worked for Kennedy in '60, Carter in '76, Reagan in '80 and '84, and Bush in 2000 and 2004. Guys who couldn't deliver the simple positive message include Stevenson, McCarthy, Ford, Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry. In 1980, Carter lost the ability to present that kind of message after he had fucked up the country so badly.
I think Hillary will have a hard time with the "positive" thing. She'll raise money alright, and she'll have large cheering crowds wherever she goes. Actually, the cheering crowds and the money are part of the problem for any Democrat today. It's easy to get the money and applause by negativity and vitriol, but then they forget the positive and upbeat mesages that win elections.
Keep in mind that wobbly 20% when you hear the press and the polls telling you how great Hillary's doing two years from now. Hillary can re-work her image only so much. I don't think you can learn charisma, and she's constitutionally incapable of being pleasant or upbeat, let alone positive. But then, she's a Democrat, and her party has completely abandoned positive ideas in favor of unfocused negativity.
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Yes, there's that. There's also the fact that Hillary's a woman. And
there are still people in this country who just aren't going to vote for a woman for president. Do enough of 'em vote to make a difference? It all depends. But all else being equal, I'll bet that a woman in W's place in '00 would've lost soundly.
She's hated by a significant proportion of the population. She's not positive. She's not charismatic. And she's a she.
The way things are going, Hillary may be the Republicans' best chance for a win in '08.
Posted by: Matt at February 04, 2006 08:07 PM (NJWLe)
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Like I have said. over and over; a woanmust be on the ticket to win in '08.
Will Condi take second palce to mcCain? I hope so, because we win in walk, no matter if they put up Jesus and Mary.
Unless of course, they display a cartoon of Mohammed with a turban with a bomb in it...
Posted by: shellu at February 04, 2006 09:34 PM (Ffvoi)
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Shit Matt, you need a dose of political reality. Having ovaries is worth 5% of the vote out of the gate. Any political pro will tell you that. That's why we get such vacuous ninny women in office. If Hillary had a dick, her audience would be VERY small.
Shelly is overly excited.
Posted by: Casca at February 04, 2006 11:18 PM (2gORp)
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Actually, I think all of this attention on Hillary is misguided. Unlike the Republicans, who telegraph their candidate years in advance (the last exciting Republican primary season was in 1976, for Christ's sake), the Democrats NEVER nominate their early frontrunner.
Notice how Symington beat Kennedy in '60? How McCarthy beat Humphrey in '68? Muskie beat McGovern in '72? Hart beat Mondale in '84? Tsongas beat Clinton in '92? I didn't think you did.
Of course, I have an unconventional view of who the nominee will be, and have for three years.
I predict that Al Gore has been doing a lot of reading up on Richard Nixon and will be the 2008 Democratic nominee, probably with Obama on the undercard.
He's positioned perfectly vis-a-vis the war to kill every single sitting senator who "voted for it being voting against it" in the primaries, which are way to the left of the general electorate. And then he can go before the country at the convention and argue that he actually WON eight years earlier. It'll be a pretty compelling story, too. Particularly if the President's numbers don't go up in a HUGE way between now and then.
Not only will Gore pick up most of his 2000 support, he's also likely carry the Dean and Nader people as well. If he's learned any lessons at all from 2000, he'll be a formidible candidate, particularly without Monica Lewinsky tugging at his fly.
And the Republican primaries will be open warfare, with everyone trying to tear down McCain and Giuliani. George Allen might come up the middle, but the Jesus wing is crazy enough and powerful enough to nominate a Brownback/Santorum ticket. Even if they do the smart thing and nominate McCain, he might be so damaged by the primaries that Gore eats his lunch.
Take Hillary out of the equation (and no one's ever named 10 states she can WIN), and this becomes a very close election.
Posted by: skippystalin at February 05, 2006 02:10 AM (ohSFF)
5
Al Gore, Mr Sore Loser himself? Yeah, right. He was such a class act in 2000 that the nation will put up with a do over?
The Dems could do worse, because Jimmy Carter is technically eligible, but otherwise I'm hard pressed to see how. Hillary, whom I loathe, at least pretends to be human.
Posted by: MarkD at February 05, 2006 07:17 AM (X9njN)
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Skippy:
Gore has one unsurmountable problem.
He has been saying some very outrageous things especially in Europe. Plus there was a long period of time when he wore that crazy beard. All those speeches have been saved by people who would run against him,
Put all that together in a series of commercials and Gore could be made to appear insane.
Posted by: Jake at February 05, 2006 07:25 AM (r/5D/)
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Annie, you call it a positive thing; I call it likeability. Voters have to like you or they won't vote for you no matter what your qualities. I don't think likeability can be learned.
Bush always rated really high in likeability in every election he has ever been in. The voters did not like Gore or Kerry and that is why they lost.
Even Hillary's great supporters will admit she is not likeable and that is why she cannot win.
Posted by: Jake at February 05, 2006 07:39 AM (r/5D/)
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Gore? I think Skippy is joking. He may run, but they'll never nominate him. He pissed off too many people in 2000. Besides, people know he IS mentally unbalanced.
I'm not ready to predict a Hillary nomination. Anything can happen in the next two years. But as I sit here right now, Clinton Obama looks like the best bet.
Likability and "the positive thing" are related concepts. Compare Condi. Rice throws Clinton's weakness into sharp relief. Both are intellectuals and both are considered extremely intelligent by the public. (In Hillary's case, undeservedly so.) Since both are women, you cancel out any voter prejudice. But Rice is likable and she can give a positive rah rah speech without screeching. (I might add, incidentally, that her hand gestures are more natural than Clinton's which are annoying and look forced.) Condi presents herself as rational and confident. Clinton presents herself as scorned and bitchy. Condi only lacks experience in public, which could hurt her, but she's been practicing.
That said, I am on record as believing that Condi doesn't want to run, and probably won't. I'm also not sure that PhDs make the best presidents.
Posted by: annika at February 05, 2006 08:10 AM (0UCW8)
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I think Skippy is serious about Gore. Like him, I'm not so concerned about the social issues now. I just want a candidate that is a hawkish, fiscal conservative in the White House.
If McCain can stop being a "maverick" (liberal media whore) before the race, I won't have any second thoughts voting for him in '08. I won't mind voting for Giuliani just as long as he doesn't advocate overturning the partial-birth abortion ban that hasn't even been enforced yet.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial-Birth_Abortion_Ban_Act
Then again, the Dems' candidate would put more of those obstructionist assholes on the federal bench.
Posted by: reagan80 at February 05, 2006 09:16 AM (K9tdw)
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Who the fuck is masquerading as reagan80? Those guys are anathema to Reagan & the Reagan legacy. Ron ran against Pat's "Blue Hair & Bloody Mary Crowd".
It's just too early to start gaming '08. At this point it could be Boehner. He's an insider who talks like an outsider, and if you saw him on FNS today...
Posted by: Casca at February 05, 2006 09:42 AM (2gORp)
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"Those guys are anathema to Reagan & the Reagan legacy."
You're mostly right, Casca. However, Bush Jr. hasn't really been a good spiritual successor to Reagan either. He seems like he's got more in common with Nixon (never vetoed Dems' spending) and Teddy Roosevelt (expanded gov't, economic meddling). Bush still retains the Republicans' edge over the Democrats on national security and foreign policy issues though. Plus, he gets an "A for effort" regarding Social Security reform and for trying to preserve the tax cuts.
Despite advocating for the unconstitutional campaign finance reform, McCain still has an American Conservative Union rating above 70 percent. Plus, he said recently that he's pro-life and a conservative as opposed to being a "moderate".
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/012939.php
However, McCain's fellow media whore, Lindsey Graham, has an ACU rating around 90 percent, so I don't know if I should take their ratings seriously. Hopefully, McCain isn't really a stealth liberal blowing wind up our asses.
Instead of being a liberal or "moderate" Republican, I prefer to think of Giuliani as a hawkish Libertarian. He's a fiscal conservative. He even tried to cut funding to a Brooklyn art exhibit for having offensive "Pi$$ Christ"-type displays.
If I can't get another Reaganite in the White House, I'd be comfortable with a hawkish Libertarian instead.
Posted by: reagan80 at February 05, 2006 11:01 AM (K9tdw)
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It's one thing to learn a few facts and think one knows the history, but as Kipling kippled, "The fool's finger wobbles back to the fire." Breaking the country club Republican stranglehold on the party was the first thing RR was about. McCain & Rudy won't make it through the primaries because they both repudiate the base no matter how they contort on their way to New Hampshire.
For what it's worth, in 1976 RR had the primary race stolen from him by the party whores who are with us always, who backed the incumbent Ford. Wrap your brain around that. RR and his appeal to conservatives almost unseated a sitting President in a primary. Of course the rest is history. Ford lost to possibly the worst President in our history, and it was the putrid weakness of Carter that fed the appeal for a strong RR. And launched him into an orbit that the slings of the media could not reach.
Posted by: Casca at February 05, 2006 12:03 PM (2gORp)
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I agree with Annika that optimistic candidates win - esp optimistic candidates who know themselves - so they can survive the rigors and reputation tear-downs of the campaign. Optimistic candidates are looking forward to a bright future. Americans want to be led in that direction.
One of my favorite Reagan moments came when he was taking a couple of questions, and the media jumped out with "Tip O'Neill says x,y,z..." Reagan just smiled and affably waved his hand, saying - without saying it - "Aw, that's just Tip..." I loved that Reagan could get away with doing that kind of thing. Less positive, less affable politicians could not. I love Condi. I love Giuliani. But, damn, every time I listen to George Allen I want to rush onto the TV screen and kiss him on the lips. I think I'm in puppy love with George Allen.
Posted by: gcotharn at February 05, 2006 12:36 PM (U/NfN)
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Firstly, skippy is serious about Gore. The history and trending of the Democratic primary system bears me out on this, too.
As I noted earlier, Democrats NEVER nominate their early frontrunner. The last time they did was in 1956. Secondly, Gore can make an at least plausable argument that he actually won in 2000, a powerful argument to primary voters.
Has Gore been acting like a psychopath for the last five years? Yes, yes he has. But so has the grass roots of the Democratic Party. Primary voters are going to have a very hard time voting for a candidate who voted to authorize the war, which excludes everyone but Senator Fiengold and Governors Warner and Vilsack. Unfortunately, no one knows who they are. That leaves the anti-war field pretty much open to Gore.
Another Nixon analogy. After the '60 race (which Kennedy stole outright) and the '62 California race against Pat Brown, Nixon was seen as both a sore loser and a born one. But after George Romney immolated himself, Nixon was all that was left and he danced through the primaries against Nelson Rockefeller. Nixon also broke with the Goldwater/Republican orthodoxy on Vietnam and that served him very well in both the primaries and the general election. I think Gore's been studying all of the above.
It doesn't particularly matter if you like Gore (and I personally can't stand the motherfucker), but ignoring the possibility that he'll run for and win the nomination is dangerously stupid.
Not only has Hillary peaked way, way too early, she's becoming inceasingly unacceptable to the activist left of the party, which controls the primaries. If McCain and Giuliani get mauled in the Republican primaries, I assure you that the same happens to Hillary. And that's IF she runs, which I don't think she will.
The first primaries and caucuses of '08 aren't going to be in Iowa and New Hampshire. They'll be in DailyKos and Democratic Underground. Just watch, you'll see a lunatic nominee, and who better to nominate that a lunatic who got 500,000 more votes than the current President?
Posted by: skippystalin at February 05, 2006 12:50 PM (ohSFF)
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As to reagan80's point.
President Bush has about as much to do with President Reagan in terms of substance as Hugo Chavez does. Stylistically, Reagan and Bush 43 are similiar on the stump, but that's where it ends.
Reagan was a conservative and Bush doesn't even pretend to be. Bush is a populist, William Jennings Bryan with a better haircut.
I'm constantly amazed how conservatives keep holding President Bush to their bossoms as one of their own, when he's nothing of the kind. President Bush has done nothing with as much enthusiasm as he has gone about bankrupting the federal treasury with shiny, new entitlement spending programs and social engineering experiments like No Child Left Behind, which will have the effect of making American schools even worse than they already were. I vaugely remember a time when conservatives wanted to abolish the Department of Education. President Bush has doubled its budget.
This isn't conservatism, it's populism. Christ, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Bush doesn't give a "Cross of Gold" speech as his farewell address.
Posted by: skippystalin at February 05, 2006 01:07 PM (ohSFF)
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Skippy understands one thing. No mention of Williams Jennings Bryan is complete without a "Cross of Gold" reference!
Posted by: annika at February 05, 2006 03:53 PM (NFO5Q)
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Casca,
As I've said, I'd prefer a Reaganite over those two. If they piss off the NRA or something, then I don't want them to make it out of the primaries either. And, I know the NRA still loathes McCain for muzzling them with "campaign finance reform".
Skippy,
I agree that the GOP must become "Contract with America" purists again before they head back into the wilderness.
Posted by: reagan80 at February 05, 2006 04:08 PM (K9tdw)
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Skippy, did it ever occur to you, that a lot of us dont "hold Bush to our bosom" as much as we preffered him over anything the Dems had to offer.
Hillary is much to shrill to win
Condi wants to be NFL commisioner
McCain haas alienated most of the republican party.
Its not going to be any of the obvious ones for either party.
PS. Hold Bush to your bosom. that sounds kinda kinky.
Posted by: Kyle N at February 05, 2006 08:30 PM (+xN+u)
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Gore has a great deal of appeal to the more extreme elements of the Democratic Party, and that element wields a lot of influence right now in the form of money, exposure, and the volume of their "righteous indignation." However, I don't think the average Democrat out in Kansas, Arkansas, or even Florida is comfortable with someone who often appears to be a raving lunatic.
As a conservative, I am very worried about a Democratic ticket of Mark Warner and Evan Bayh. They are both relatively moderate in philosophy and appearance, well-spoken, and able to appeal to a broad spectrum of likely voters. They would be very attractive to voters in places like Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Ohio, etc. I take comfort in the knowledge that the Democrats are probably too crazed and disorganized to nominate anyone that sensible, but it is a mistake to think there aren't sober, sensible people within the Party who understand the potential strength of such a ticket. Whether they will be drowned out by the current vitriolic extremists is the question.
Posted by: DBrooks at February 06, 2006 06:32 AM (w6ScD)
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Casca said,
"Having ovaries is worth 5% of the vote out of the gate. Any political pro will tell you that. That's why we get such vacuous ninny women in office."
In states that Hillary would win anyway, yes. But I'm not even close to convinced that's true in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, or a lot of other places. (The only woman senator from any of those four states is Kay Bailey Hutchison, with her lifetime 91 rating from the American Conservative Union and her B- from Gun Owners of America. She spoke at the most recent annual NRA Members Banquet. No whacky liberal, she.)
Posted by: Matt at February 06, 2006 08:35 PM (oujPJ)
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DBrooks is right: Warner would be dangerous. The guy did manage to get elected Governor of Virginia. Hell, under the right circumstances
I could be tempted to vote for Warner.
Posted by: Matt at February 06, 2006 08:39 PM (oujPJ)
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Jake:
If "likeability" is required to win elections, how do you explain Nixon? Hell, I'm not even sure Pat liked him.
You guys are onto something with the "Contract with America" thing; I agree it needs to be recycled and cleanse the GOP. Who better to do that than the guy who gave it to us in the first place? Newt in '08.
Posted by: shelly at February 07, 2006 01:39 AM (BJYNn)
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I'm not suggesting that Gore would win big at the dance, but he is good for the nomination. Yes, it would be incredibly smart to nominate Warner, because he could probably beat anyone the Republicans have, including McCain and Giuliani as they could both be tied closely to Bush.
But can anyone here name five smart things the Democrats have done in the last decade? Plus, there's always the possibilty that the Republicans could lose their minds and nominate a neandrathal like Brownback or Santorum, and I assure that Gore would slaughter either.
As you might be able to tell, I've pretty much given up on primary voters to do the smart thing anymore. '08 could very well end up being the Battle of the Network Retards.
Posted by: skippystalin at February 07, 2006 01:44 AM (ohSFF)
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"But can anyone here name five smart things the Democrats have done in the last decade?"
And, you don't understand why we keep holding President Bush to "our bossoms" as one of our own? Bush might not be the ideal conservative, but he makes the Leftists so incontinent and batshit crazy that it is easy to overlook his "diluted conservatism".
It's funny that the Left still demonizes the man that ended the draft and tried to get us out of Vietnam without a total defeat for our SVN ally. I'm not a big fan of Nixon since he did a lot of favors for the liberals' domestic agenda (I respected his reasoning though), but if I were around back in the day, I'd probably have wanted to have Nixon's baby (if I were a woman) after I saw how much the Left hated and demonized him.
Posted by: reagan80 at February 07, 2006 06:12 AM (K9tdw)
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Ovaries are worth 5 pts, all other things being equal. You've got to have someone willing to run, who has SOME credibility as a candidate. Perhaps you've all missed it, but Jimmy's son is running for the Senate seat against Ensign in Nevada, lol, should be good. I wonder if this is the same guy named "Chip" I believe, who was the driving force behind the "Good of the Service" discharge. No, no, it was automatic upgrading of GOS's. Joined the Navy, went to Canada, smoked dope and got caught... ring a bell?
Posted by: Casca at February 07, 2006 06:42 AM (y9m6I)
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Yes, there's that. There's also the fact that Hillary's a woman
Biggest myth of its whole phony image! ;-)
Posted by: Radical Redneck at February 09, 2006 07:35 AM (Hn8NG)
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First, the Democrats - Bill Clinton was one of the most likable presidents of the 20th century, and (except for his Houseleader issues) relatively balanced (Carter drove him up a wall). Hillary functions well as a power behind the throne (kind of a Bobby Kennedy), but she may not get the nomination. I'm not ruling Gore out.
Regarding the Republicans - the difference between Goldwater, Reagan, and Dubya is that Goldwater was a conservative, Dubya is a neo-conservative, and Reagan was somewhere in between.
Posted by: Ontario Emperor at February 10, 2006 01:19 PM (FPdMX)
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January 30, 2006
A Little Change For This Year
Normally a response to the State of the Union address is released after the president's speech. In an interesting procedural twist,
the Democratic response was released beforehand this year.
Posted by: annika at
04:22 PM
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Post contains 41 words, total size 1 kb.
1
I guess that since Howard Dean has run through all the Dems money, this is the best they can do to get there message across.
Posted by: d-rod at January 30, 2006 04:44 PM (CSRmO)
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At least the Islamo-fascists don't pretend to be pro-American.
Posted by: Blu at January 30, 2006 04:57 PM (A+3OL)
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I much preferred the Democrat's response to Kennedy and Kerry today. In case you missed it, the score on the cloture motion was:
Good guys 75
K & K 25
JUSTICE ALITO should get approved tomorrow in time to be sworn in and walk in with the rest of the Court for the State of the Union speech, sending a public message to those two bloated bloviators from Massachusetts.
I hope Mrs. Alito gets the seat on Laura's right; this time the tears will be Kennedy's and Kerry's.
Posted by: shelly at January 30, 2006 05:20 PM (Ffvoi)
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I wonder what the response would be if the held the swearing in ceremony for Alito as part of the SOTU.
Posted by: Stephen Macklin at January 30, 2006 05:51 PM (DdRjH)
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Damn! You beat me to it.
Posted by: Pursuit at January 30, 2006 07:03 PM (n/TNS)
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Nice touch, but no cigar. POTUS ain't a gonna shae that spotlight in prime time with no black robed ghoul.
Besides, the drama will be high enough when he prances in with the rest of the Court. Here's a good one, will Sandra come with them if she's been replaced? If so, will Bush give his tribute then and there? Why not?
Stay tuned...
Posted by: shelly at January 30, 2006 07:42 PM (y6n8O)
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I say, deuced hard to hit an innocent in that part of the woods.
Posted by: Casca at January 30, 2006 08:29 PM (2gORp)
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I enjoyed seeing Tim Kaine give the response, the first Virginia Governor to travel the state holding Town Hall meetings. Being a moderate independent, I revel when a moderate from either side obtains a higher profile within their party. Now if McCain DOES get nominated....
Posted by: will at February 01, 2006 04:13 AM (GzvlQ)
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McCain is unloved in the US Senate; he is very independent and oftentimes just plain rebellious.
But he is clever and he is charismatic, and he is far and away the leading choice among the rank and file Republicans to be the nominee. The conservatives oppose him because they fear his independence, and the conservatives are in the driver's seat in the party right now.
Nonetheless, I think he can overcome this, and if Condi is really out, he will be the nominee. Until she gets in, he's got my vote and money. If she does get in, all bets are off. She wins it all.
My longshot is George Allen, who will also get my support. It would be a good ticket to have him as VP, but will not happen.
The party without a woman on the ticket this time cannot win.
Remember, you heard that HERE, first.
Posted by: shelly at February 01, 2006 05:48 AM (Ffvoi)
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Be awesome to see the Reps nominate a strong, conservative, competent woman----someone that could rival Thatcher in stature.
I've always thought that the first woman President will be a Rep or at the very least a very conservative Dem that has a hawkish foreign policy. (Notice Ms. Clinton's votes lately. But I don't think she is fooling anybody.)
So, I hope you are right Shelley.
Posted by: Blu at February 03, 2006 07:40 AM (9Z/ir)
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Well, I not always right, but I am seldom wrong.
It depends on what "it" means.
Posted by: shelly at February 04, 2006 05:15 PM (wZLWV)
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January 25, 2006
Shame On Google
Screw democratic idealism,
Google takes the money.
Google's launch of a new, self-censored search engine in China is a 'black day' for freedom of expression, a leading international media watchdog says.
Reporters Without Borders joined others in asking how Google could stand up for US users' freedoms while controlling what Chinese users can search for.
Its previous search engine for China's fast-growing market was subject to government blocks.
The new site - Google.cn - censors itself to satisfy Beijing.
. . .
It is believed that sensitive topics are likely to include independence for Taiwan and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, as well as human rights and democracy in China generally.
That pesky human rights again. Like CNN in pre-war Iraq, Google would rather stay in the market than actually stand up for something noble.
Google argues it would be more damaging to pull out of China altogether and says that in contrast to other search engines, it will inform users when access is restricted on certain search terms.
"More damaging" to whom? Google shareholders I'd guess.
Unbelievable Update: Google founder Sergey Brin, in a lame attempt to defend Google's decision, actually compared censorship of information about Taiwanese independence, the Tiananmen massacre, human rights and democracy with censorship of child pornography! Sort of.
Brin: . . . [W]e also by the way have to do similar things in the U.S. and Germany. We also have to block certain material based on law. The U.S., child pornography, for example . . .
I like how Ken Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, summed this up:
I'm sure Google justifies this by saying it's just a couple of search words that people can't get to, but it's very difficult for Google to do what they just did and avoid the slippery slope. The next thing [China will] do is ask [Google] to tell them who is searching for 'Taiwan' or 'independence' or 'human rights.' And then it's going to find itself in the position of turning over the names of dissidents or simply of inquisitive individuals, for imprisonment.
The key in my view is that every company faces the same dilemma -- how do you maintain your principles while benefiting from the enormous Chinese market. And the answer is only going to come through safety in numbers. And it's going to require all of the search engines to get together and say 'None of us will do this.' And China needs search engines. If it can pick them off one at a time, it wins. If it faces all of the search engines at once banding together, the search engines win.
Google's got a great philosophy of 'Do No Evil.' And I'm sure they say well, 'It's better for us to be there than for us not to be there and there are just a few things that people can't search for.' . . . I would have expected better from Google.
Not me.
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1
An excellent topic to debate;
- Give partial access to chinese users, a passive form of propaganda, though they can see sites such as papers from America's Founders.
- Give no access to chinese users, let them find things on their own.
Different shades of gray; which is lighter, which is darker?
Again, good topic.
Posted by: will at January 25, 2006 09:08 AM (GzvlQ)
2
will, I'm on board with annika's cynicism. Who is the Chinese government to tell Google to toe the line? Oh... probably the one that's in charge of one of the world's larget economies...
Posted by: The Law Fairy at January 25, 2006 11:02 AM (XUsiG)
3
It's all about greed. Normally not for meddling by Congress, but I wouldn't mind seeing hearings and legislation on this.
Posted by: Ron at January 25, 2006 12:53 PM (EUufG)
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El Mondo, to me it isn't that they caved in to the Chinese, its that they refused to cooperate with the US justice department on a search for child porn.
What kind of priorities are those?
Posted by: Kyle N at January 25, 2006 02:10 PM (jbD6f)
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Well, in regards to Google and child porn, we can all just thank the ACLU for law suit after law suit to keep allowing child porn to be published and accessed on the internet.
Posted by: Nick at January 25, 2006 06:13 PM (6Kpkq)
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It just puts the lie to all the bullshit which companies try to push as meaning through their corporate slogans and creeds. I am upset, but this is to be expected in enterprises where money really is the only thing that matters. To actually have an organization which follows "Do No Evil" you'd have to have people willing to do work for something greater than money. When companies are found to be doing what we all disinterestedly expect, that is spouting bullshit as meaning in order to get rich, it really does reveal the only path which such a mindset can come to. But as long as the examples are few, and harm is largely done to meaning, we can put up with an incredible amount of bullshit because of the comfort level (the ease with which we can distract ourselves) the invisible hand of capitalism supplies. People can and will do all sorts of work, but we exist on a level of meaning as well. So we get bullshit for the latter in order to get a good standard of living by the former. But then again, God didn't create us all to be monks & ascetics, did he? The point is what we can create is our greatest gift in life. What we can create is infused with meaning and business hijacks that, and I dunno how impotent y'alls rage is on the matter, but its clear that business does not care about meaning and soul except in terms of what is functional, and people are treated as such. The expectation for this should never change.
Posted by: Scof at January 26, 2006 02:55 AM (RDouC)
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Now, I'm worried that those assholes at Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo will start filtering content from OUR searches that don't suit their agendas.
Posted by: reagan80 at January 26, 2006 07:10 AM (K9tdw)
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I found this site at Rightwingsparkle. While I am not a fan of child porn I don't support this warrentless seach by the Dept. of Justice. I think that most of you would not be for a house to house search for child porn if it was found that one person had child porn in your town. That would be an invasion of your privacy under the fourth amendment. If during this house to house search it was found out that there was an unlawful gun and your gun was siezed you'd be outraged at the injustice, and if it was found that you had nothing illegal you would be upset by the inconvenience. If it was found during the search that you had letters from a girl that you were having an affair with you would be angry and your wife would be leaving. I know that many might find this a stretch to compare computer searches with home searches I don't believe it is that much different and these were the kinds of unreasonable searches that the British government was doing that caused us to put that fourth amendment into the constitution. I don't agree with Google going to China and I don't think that Google will find less government interference there. By the way since it is my first visit to this site, I also feel the same way about the warrentless searches done by the NSA.
Posted by: patrick at January 26, 2006 02:30 PM (5tYQS)
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Raygun,
Still smelling the flowers fella? How is it that you are so concerned with possible limitations on your access to info by a private entity and yet you fawn and coo over the illegal searches, evesdropping, torture and mayhem committed by your furher W if it keeps your ass safe?
"Information may be the currency of democracy" but
"Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Posted by: strawman at January 27, 2006 08:35 AM (0ZdtC)
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There's a big difference between our gov't gathering information on terrorists living here that want to kill us and the Chinese gov't(with their multi-national corporate proxies) BLOCKING their citizens from gathering information on the web that doesn't suit their regime's agenda.
I see you like Ben Franklin quotes:
http://junkyardblog.net/archives/week_2006_01_22.html#005302
[The problem is, the quote above, misused and abused by civil liberties absolutists, does not reflect what Franklin actually said. Michelle Malkin and a few others have dug up the original quote, which reads:
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
ThatÂ’s a little more, um, nuanced, no?
Funny that the same lefties currently in a Franklin frenzy never quote this:
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
What is the NSA surveillance program, if not the ounce of prevention that beats a more violent cure for terrorism?
Really, lefties, what tactics would you find acceptable? You don’t want to use the military to fight terrorists. You don’t want to use legal tools to apprehend terrorists. And you don’t want to use technology to prevent terrorist attacks. So enlighten us—what do you want to do about al Qaeda?
Or how about this:
"We find by fatal experience that Congress consists of too many members to keep secrets."
Given how Congress has leaked like a seive throughout this war, Franklin seems prophetic.
Those who are misquoting him to score political points? Pathetic.
You canÂ’t connect the dots if you donÂ’t collect the dots. Franklin never said that, but if here were around today he would certainly add it to his almanac. He might even appear in the ad.]
Posted by: reagan80 at January 27, 2006 03:44 PM (K9tdw)
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Raygun,
A quick retort about dots.
Memo to the pres- "Bin LAden planning an attack on our soil" (paraphrased)
Pres- Lets take a vacation.
Codi- Nobody could imagine planes being used as missles" (paraphrased)
Memeo to condi weeks earlier and of course ten years earlier-"terrorists may try to use planes as missles"
You have way too much faith that collecting the dots means anything. You have no knowledge that the spying is on terrorists, it could be on anyone, they refuse to say who, don't they?
And, there have ALWAYS been in place ways for warrants to be obtained if even the tinest shed of probable cause is presented, these people DO NOT believe in probable cause. They believe in the rightous mission they are on and DO NOT believe they need explain it to anyone. If their mission were sane, and had a viable bases in reality it could be explained to the judge, who hears it in secret and issues the warrants. Even the judge quit and calls them criminals.
They are criminals lying to us, you especially, and telling you they are keeping you safe. Bullshit, they have stopped nothing, and gotten a conviction against NOT ONE person they have detained.
Posted by: Strawman at January 28, 2006 10:59 AM (0ZdtC)
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January 19, 2006
Tell Me What You Think?
Should the U.S. negotiate a truce with Al Qaeda? Yes or no, and why.
Posted by: annika at
07:35 PM
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1
We do not negotiate with terrorists. Bad precedent.
Posted by: Lee at January 19, 2006 07:48 PM (GAHaV)
2
I think we should have a peace conference with the Al Qaida. And when they show up, we kill all of them.
Posted by: Jake at January 19, 2006 07:56 PM (r/5D/)
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Osama? Osama?! You dirty bastard, what have you done with Annie! Negotiate?! Never!
Posted by: Pursuit at January 19, 2006 08:04 PM (n/TNS)
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The only negotiation involving bin Laden should be between the DOD and the White House. The issue on the table is JDAM or MOA? What to drop on Ossama's head.
Posted by: Stephen Macklin at January 19, 2006 08:16 PM (DdRjH)
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Negotiate? Of course! Can you give me a ten digit grid for where and when you'd like to meet?
Posted by: Casca at January 19, 2006 09:09 PM (2gORp)
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A quirk of Islam - along with it's sanction of violent proselyzation, stoning of adulteress, and hanging of homosexuals - is its sanction of lying to the kufr in order to gain military advantage. The Prophet Muhammad famously made a truce while he built up his forces, then broke the truce as soon as he was strong enough to attack. The story is famous in Islam. A comparable Christian story would be the miracle of the fishes and the loaves.
I first thought Osama was so contemptuous of the American left that he believed they would ignore history and jump at his truce(thus cutting into
Halliburton's profits! Could you believe Osama mentioned "war profiteers!" --
"Osama, meet Kos, Atrios, and Howard Dean. Kos, Atrios, Howard, this is Osama."
On further reflection, I believe Osama was reflecting the desperation of his situation. He was simply runnning out of options. All he's got left is a few Hail Mary attempts, and a couple of nasty, finger-biting, ball-busting, eye-gouging fights in post-whistle pile-ups. This tape was a clear sign of weakness and breakdown.
Posted by: gcotharn at January 19, 2006 10:01 PM (KU0Ns)
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Jake and Casca were thinking what I was thinking.
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin Kim at January 19, 2006 11:48 PM (TDwc6)
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Negotiation requires credibility on both sides, and terrorists have none.
Posted by: Mark at January 20, 2006 02:24 AM (AoFiY)
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Of course we should negotiate; let's see, lethal injection, gas chamber, electric chair, hanging, firing squad, drone hellfire missile, guillotine, seppuku.
C'mon over Osama, they're all on the table.
Posted by: shelly at January 20, 2006 04:02 AM (CIvtX)
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sure, why not.
Of course when they break their deal we can refer them to the UN security council.
Posted by: cube at January 20, 2006 07:11 AM (nyNr0)
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Osama's tape accomplished two things. He established that he is still running Al Qaeda (and thus is still alive) and he set himself up as the good guy in the eyes of Arabs and mush-hearted liberals in Europe and the MSM. Now there's no question that Bush must be the agressor, since he refused peace.
What's really sad is that some people will actually buy that monkey hurlage.
In the eyes of W fans like myself, this is a pretty clear sign that Osama is running out of options and we are winning this war.
Still, I agree with Jake and Casca.
Posted by: Trint at January 20, 2006 07:15 AM (SlSdA)
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Let him negotiate with St Peter; we'll be happy to arrange the introduction...
Posted by: BobG at January 20, 2006 09:13 AM (+PddO)
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We should definitely negotiate, under the following conditions:
Only one person from each side will come to the negotiations.
Al Qaida's person will be Osama.
Our person will be Ewan McGregor.
Ewan McGregor will have a lightsaber.
Then they can argue and Osama can hiss about how we're the Great Satan and then Ewan can yell, "only the Sith deal in absolutes!" and dump Osama into the pit of burning lava.
Oh yeah, the other condition is that the negotiations have to be someplace where there's plentiful burning lava nearby.
Those would be the Coolest. Negotiations. Ever.
Posted by: The Law Fairy at January 20, 2006 10:20 AM (XUsiG)
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Depends on the terms; complete surrender of the remaining top 4 tiers of Al Queda leadership? Hmmm, sounds like a good start. Sure, let's go with that...
Posted by: will at January 20, 2006 12:15 PM (GzvlQ)
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Sure. I'd be willing to sing a truce (assuming I were President) if they gave us the name, age, physical description, photograph, address and fingerprints of every al Qaeda member, sympathizer and contributor. I'd then break the truce by killing as many of them as possible in simultaneous operations, and hunting down the rest one by one. Tactical nukes would not be out of the question for densely packed clusters. And I'd make it look like it was their fault!
Posted by: Matt at January 20, 2006 12:41 PM (10G2T)
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Fuck. SiGN. SiGN a truce!
Posted by: Matt at January 20, 2006 12:42 PM (10G2T)
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Trint, it's not just W fans that see it your way, as I'm not a big fan of W myself and I call total bullshit on Osama's offer of a truce.
He was a wanted man long before 9/11 and will continue to be until we finally get him. There's no reason for us to believe a goddamned word he has to say, and I find it highly arrogant of him to assert that he has any control over the situation in Iraq. He is pure scum, and the only way I can see us doing any kind of "negotiating," would be if the end result is Osama's head on a platter.
Posted by: Amy Bo Bamy at January 20, 2006 01:19 PM (Wz2Gp)
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Xactly Amy, and that's why I'd do like the main badguy in pulp fiction, and have a couple bruthas get medieval on his ass with a blowtorch and a pair of pliars.
Posted by: Casca at January 20, 2006 03:23 PM (2gORp)
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Yes, we must sign a truce at a neutral meeting place. Perhaps, a nice little hostel in Slovakia that I know of.....
I'll bring the cordless drill.
Posted by: reagan80 at January 20, 2006 06:58 PM (K9tdw)
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Joseph Conrad put it best in "Heart Of Darkness": 'exterminate the brutes!'
Posted by: barry at January 21, 2006 07:35 PM (QrzWy)
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What would one negotiate? "Okay, Osama, then we're agreed: from now on, you'll kill only half as many people as you'd normally kill. . . ." ????
Posted by: Bilwick at January 23, 2006 11:54 AM (AktpP)
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January 17, 2006
Chocolate City
I don't really have a problem with what Ray Nagin said yesterday about New Orleans as a chocolate city. (I'm certainly no fan of Mayor Nagin, and I can't defend the other stuff he said. I think there should be a moratorium on public figures talking about why God does stuff. It always results in the speaker apologizing within a week, so why bother.)
A lot of people sound shocked at the words "chocolate city," but it's an old school phrase that I was first introduced to back when I worked as a temp in downtown Oakland. We used to bring in CDs to listen to while we shuffled paper. A friend of mine brought in the Parliament CD, which featured this title song:
Uh, what's happening CC?
They still call it the White House
But that's a temporary condition, too.
Can you dig it, CC?
To each his reach
And if I don't cop, it ain't mine to have
But I'll be reachin' for ya
'Cause I love ya, CC.
Right on.
There's a lot of chocolate cities, around
We've got Newark, we've got Gary
Somebody told me we got L.A.
And we're working on Atlanta
But you're the capital, CC
Gainin' on ya!
Get down
Gainin' on ya!
Movin' in and on ya
Gainin' on ya!
Can't you feel my breath, heh
Gainin' on ya!
All up around your neck, heh heh
Hey, CC!
They say your jivin' game, it can't be changed
But on the positive side,
You're my piece of the rock
And I love you, CC.
Can you dig it?
Hey, uh, we didn't get our forty acres and a mule
But we did get you, CC, heh, yeah
Gainin' on ya
Movin' in and around ya
God bless CC and its vanilla suburbs
Gainin' on ya!
Gainin' on ya!
Gainin' on ya! (heh!)
Gainin' on ya!
Gainin' on ya!
What's happening, blood?
Gainin' on ya!
Gainin' on ya!
Gainin' on ya!
Yeah!
What's happening, black?
Brother black, blood even
Yeah-ahh, just funnin'
Gettin' down
Ah, blood to blood
Ah, players to ladies
The last percentage count was eighty
You don't need the bullet when you got the ballot
Are you up for the downstroke, CC?
Chocolate city
Are you with me out there?
And when they come to march on ya
Tell 'em to make sure they got their James Brown pass
And don't be surprised if Ali is in the White House
Reverend Ike, Secretary of the Treasure
Richard Pryor, Minister of Education
Stevie Wonder, Secretary of FINE arts
And Miss Aretha Franklin, the First Lady
Are you out there, CC?
A chocolate city is no dream
It's my piece of the rock and I dig you, CC
God bless Chocolate City and its (gainin' on ya!) vanilla suburbs
Can y'all get to that?
Gainin' on ya!
Gainin' on ya!
Easin' in
Gainin' on ya!
In yo' stuff
Gainin' on ya!
Huh, can't get enough
Gainin' on ya!
Gainin' on ya!
Be mo' funk, be mo' funk
Gainin' on ya!
Can we funk you too
Gainin' on ya!
Right on, chocolate city!
Yeah, get deep
Real deep
Heh
Be mo' funk
Mmmph, heh
Get deep
Bad
Unh, heh
Just got New York, I'm told
It's a cool song, and the sentiment is about pride, not racism. I think there is real concern that the
new New Orleans will become some kind of sanitized N.O. themed resort. I'd hate to see it become a city-sized Pleasure Island or Universal Citywalk. Mayor Nagin was just using a colloquial reference that his audience understood to assure them that New Orleans was going to stay real.
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1
Well, you are giving him plenty of credit which he might not deserve. But rest assured New Orleans will never be a theme park. It is and always will be a working city.
But I sure hope it never becomes just what it was before Katrina. At any rate, I have Parliment's Greatest hits CD, its pretty cool.
Posted by: Kyle N at January 17, 2006 03:21 PM (WFWzN)
2
Kyle, you weirdo, have you looked for your spaceman in Ray Nagin's body?
Posted by: shelly at January 17, 2006 03:51 PM (BJYNn)
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I bet we lived in Oakland at the same time. How much you wanna bet? ...that is a nice song, I just went and downloaded for free! I'm a teef!
Posted by: Scof at January 17, 2006 04:11 PM (RDouC)
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Glad to hear the comment didn't bother you.......one of the great things about being a conservative is the ability to accept a certain level of tribal pride without getting caught up silly racist conspiracies. Be proud of your culture---just don't put it ahead of your country and don't try to shove it down others' throats.
Posted by: Blu at January 17, 2006 04:22 PM (AoWqz)
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I don't mind what Nagin said - but I am tired of his never-ending efforts to lure blacks back to N.O. - and that's literally what he's been doing for many weeks - making specific appeals for BLACKS to return to N.O. Now, THAT is injecting race where race doesn't belong, and I think Nagin deserves criticism for it. His appeal is another instance of a Democrat playing the race card in an attempt to maintain political power. Race has no place in that conversation.
Louisiana has been dominated by corrupt Democratic politics since before Huey Long, but the domination has been slowly, slowly receding over the last 20 years, with races becoming very close over the last election cycles. Without New Orleans' heavily Democratic vote, the state will go Republican: governor, Senators, almost everything. The Cajuns will still be Democrats - but the rest of the state is small town apple pie Republican. Shreveport may as well be in Texas - it will go heavily Republican also.
I think Nagin is a decent guy who did a horrible job during the Hurricane, and is making blatant partisan appeals now. I give him some benefit of doubt about his "chocolate" remark. Maybe he was talking about your song. I agree that conservatives shouldn't be shouting down issue discussion by hollering racism - even if the media double standard does drive us crazy.
Posted by: gcotharn at January 17, 2006 08:34 PM (KU0Ns)
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Ain't nuthin' wrong with chocolate. 'Specially on toppa vanilla.
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin Kim at January 18, 2006 03:46 AM (1PcL3)
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I agree that we are getting WAY too politically correct in everything someone says. But, what if he were white and said he wanted his city to be a white city?
Posted by: ed at January 18, 2006 10:47 AM (s5qzW)
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Good point, Ed. I think that the comment you mentioned would not be tolerated on Left period. Furthermore, it would be denounced by many on the Right for political reasons. But most people familiar to this site understand the hypocrisy and double-standards on the Left and on some parts of the Right. So, on this particular point, conservatives can choose not to get caught up in the PC lunacy.
Posted by: Blu at January 18, 2006 01:12 PM (AoWqz)
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new orleans was 80 pct black before katrina and probably will be more so afterward.
It was choclate before and probably will stay that way.
Posted by: cube at January 18, 2006 02:31 PM (nyNr0)
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Hello Ed.
If he were white and said He wanted it to be a white city he would justly be castigated and labeled a racist.
I don't think he said he wanted it to be a Black city. He wants's it to be a city similar to what it was before, hopefully with less poverty, less crime, better policing and a semblance of the diversity it had before. Not Dixie Disney.
Historically when whites have said they wanted a white chocolate city they meant to the exclusion of blacks. To conclude that Nagin's statement is the equivalent is more about the way you think not Nagin.
When Mayor Nagin implores blacks to retun to their city, to keep it "chocolate" I doubt anyone, other than you, hears him telling whites to stay out. He is hoping that the city will continue to be a culturally diverse haven for art and music and not become a walking city were tourists come hoping to glimse vestiges of the past.
Posted by: Strawman at January 18, 2006 02:56 PM (0ZdtC)
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Put me down for a double cone - pistachio, please.
Posted by: Shelly at January 18, 2006 03:26 PM (BJYNn)
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Strawman,
I hate to admit it, but I think you are correct about the Mayor's intent. He is well aware that New Orleans needs the return of tourism and there is no way (unless he is just a total idiot and a racist)that he is going to intentionally try to alienate whites. I, personally, love New Orleans and hope it comes back strong and like it was. (Ok, perhaps with less crime and a little cleaner.)
I, however, part ways with you on the issue of who wants to exclude who. The most exclusionary and racist statements I hear now, today, 21st century come from Blacks and other minorities. It's time for folks to stop living in the past. The average white person does not feel comfortable making racist comments. Blacks and other minorities are free to make racial critiques of whites without any fear of social ostracism thanks to a culture that excuses or ignores nearly all racism directed towards whites (or Christians.)
That's the reality of the 21st century. So, let's stop pretending it's the 1960's.
Posted by: Blu at January 18, 2006 05:10 PM (AoWqz)
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p.s. I realize that one can't be "racist" in regard to a person's religion. I meant that nearly any form a bigotry is excused if it is directed towards people of European heritage or to Christians----especially evangelicals and Catholics.
Posted by: Blu at January 18, 2006 07:11 PM (AoWqz)
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An all white New Orleans? Anybody kidding?
Who the Hell would go there to see Mardi Gras? C'mon guys, white guys just ain't got rhythm or blues.
Nagin is just a nincompoop. Although his official bio claims that Mayor Nagin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting at Tuskegee University in 1978 and received a Masters of Business Administration at Tulane University in 1994, he sure doesn't act like it.
The man won in an upset victory; he's just in over his head, that's all. Outside of my being pissed at him because he tried to evade the blame for the school busses and other poor decisions and lay it off on Bush, I'm inclined to cut him a little slack here while he tries to get Big Easy back on its feet.
Posted by: shelly at January 19, 2006 02:38 AM (BJYNn)
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'Poetry Wednesday' has been replaced by 'Song-Lyric Tuesday'
Posted by: Victor at January 19, 2006 04:51 AM (L3qPK)
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Annika:
Imagine ANY white mayor in America expressing the desire that his/her city turn or remain all "vanilla."
That mayor would be out of a job within 24 hours.
Imagine some white band singing:
"God bless Vanilla City and its (gainin' on ya!) chocolate suburbs"
The NAACP would have a collective stroke.
Then you write:
"Mayor Nagin was just using a colloquial reference that his audience understood to assure them that New Orleans was going to stay real."
Oh? "Real"? That New Orleans might become mainly white must therefore makes it less "real." It makes it "fake"? Again, a white mayor asserts that his city stay "real" by remaining all white: He'd be tarred and feathered.
You're supporting a double standard.
Posted by: Mark at January 20, 2006 02:34 AM (AoFiY)
17
The Parliament song is about pride, but Nagin's comments were nothing more than race baiting. Pure and simple. Typical New Orleans politics, but with a lot less charisma. The man is trying to hold on to his office at all costs. NOLA would be better off without him. Sadly, he'll probably parlay the death and destruction, of which he owns a large portion of the blame, into another term. He'll do it by more race baiting, as well.
I grew up about an hour away from NOLA. Having many, many friends and family from New Orleans and Louisiana (a number of whom lost everything), I have come to know a good bit about it. The level of corruption in New Orleans is comparable to some Third World countries.
Posted by: ccs178 (Chris) at January 21, 2006 12:03 PM (V2UP/)
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